The Leaf Kunoichi 4: Fire & Fight - Volume 1
by fancap22
Summary: Peace in the Leaf has given Tsunade the perfect opportunity to work on a kunoichi program with the help of an old friend, Kanoko Nishi. As the program progresses, a mysterious villain from Kanoko's past becomes a threat to the five great nations. The Kunoichi 4 are determined to stop this villain, but when one kunoichi falls into his trap, will the rest be able to save her?
1. Chapter 1

"Shizune!"

"Coming, my lady!" Shizune sprinted up the stairs with Tonton in one arm and several papers under the other. Recently, Shizune had been tasked with organizing the library in the basement of the Hokage's building. When she entered the Hokage's office, she saw Lady Tsunade was flipping through the pages of a book and muttering under her breath. It was the very same book Tsunade requested that Shizune dig up from a chest in the library and bring to her office the week before. She had been occupied with it for days, and Shizune only refrained from saying anything about Tsunade's fixation on the book because there had been very few mission requests and no major issues in the Hidden Leaf village for weeks.

"I want you to scrap whatever's next on my schedule," Lady Tsunade finally said.

"I would, my lady, but..."

Lady Tsunade stopped flipping and glared at her. She was in a fouler mood than usual, and Shizune feared that she would have an outburst soon. Shizune gently stacked the papers on Lady Tsunade's desk and sighed.

"It's just that I just happened to look out the window before I came up here and I saw Kakashi Hatake outside speaking with someone."

"That's right, he was to report to me after he returned from his mission," Tsunade sat back and closed her eyes, "Okay, never mind. We'll see what he has to say. But after that, clear my schedule!"

"Yes, my lady," Shizune placed Tonton down near the base of the desk. The pig oinked and nuzzled Tsunade's leg. This made Tsunade relax a bit, but she was still distracted by the thoughts racing in her mind. She had been preoccupied with finding a way to incorporate the book's ideas into a revival of a program that was created under the Third Hokage. She felt as though she was close to having a breakthrough, which is why she had been so focused on studying the book.

She had scribbled through several pages before the notoriously late Kakashi Hatake made his appearance.

"Good afternoon," Kakashi said. Unlike most people who came to the Hokage's office, he often preferred to enter through the window. As he perched on a panel of wood outside he stuck his head in and waved at Tsunade and Shizune.

"Late as usual, I see," Tsunade said, "What have you got for me?"

Kakashi hopped inside and laughed. He appeared unscratched which indicated that his mission didn't involve combat. The only thing he brought back with him was a satchel which he carried on one arm, and he adjusted it as he tried to explain himself.

"Well you see, I was strolling through the neighborhood and I happened to see the owner of a dumpling shop that I-"

"I don't have all day, Kakashi, out with it!"

"I found the hideout of Lord Kichiro. It appeared to have been abandoned, but I did recover several books."

"Any of them happen to look like this?" Tsunade said, holding up the book that was on her desk.

"Not quite, they're much thinner and they're a bit more ragged."

Kakashi removed several of the books from the satchel and placed them on Tsunade's desk.

"This Kichiro, he's a pretty elusive character," Kakashi continued "this is the third hideout we've uncovered and yet we haven't been able to catch him. I sent my hounds to thoroughly investigate each of his hideouts, but he barely leaves a trace."

"I see," Tsunade said. Tsunade clasped her hands and made a mental note to send out another team to search for Kichiro later. All they knew about Lord Kichiro was that he was an author and former feudal lord from the Land of Spices who went missing for several years. Since then, stories of him recruiting shinobi to commit crimes had spread throughout the five great lands. Although his ultimate objectives were still unknown, his involvement with shinobi concerned Tsunade.

"We don't need another Akatsuki situation on our hands, that's for sure," Tsunade said.

"Do you want me to look into these?" Shizune gestured to the books.

"No," Tsunade said, "Kakashi, I'm giving you a new mission. Read through these to see if you can figure out what he's planning next and-"

"Lady Tsunade, if I may interrupt, I think we should have our team examine these first, it is our policy after all. Besides, Kakashi may want to rest after traveling so far."

Shizune flashed a nervous smile with the hope of persuading Lady Tsunade to listen to her. Tsunade exhaled sharply. She really cared for Shizune, but found her hard to deal with at times. Because things were slow in the village, Tsunade had some time to find new ways to handle Shizune's incessant expressions of concern. Most of those ways embarrassed Shizune greatly.

"By the way, Kakashi," Tsunade said, cracking a slight smile, "I also have an optional mission for you. Shizune has been telling me that she feels very alone lately, so if you know of any single men who might like to meet her, I-"

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune exclaimed. Her voice shocked Tonton who ran to hide behind Tsunade's chair.

"Oh, I'm not sure if I'm qualified to help with something like that," Kakashi said. He laughed awkwardly, but committed to studying the books and took them with him after Tsunade dismissed him.

"They're probably nothing like Jiraiya's perv books, but I trust that you'll read them nonetheless," Tsunade shouted after him as he left the room. She went back to her studying, while Shizune fumed.

"Lady Tsunade! That was very uncalled for!"

"Yeah, yeah," Tsunade "just wrap up your work in the library and cancel everything else I have for today so that we can get to work."

Flushed, Shizune hurried out into the hall and Tsunade lifted Tonton onto her lap. The book she was reading was a kunoichi guidebook written by an author she knew in her youth who once proposed a specialized program for young kunoichi in the Leaf. It was Lord Third who tasked the author of the guidebook, Kanoko Nishi, to advance the program because of her passionate commitment to training young women. Unfortunately, the program had last only a few months in the Leaf before it was shut down. After causing trouble with the elders, Kanoko left the village to find a place where she could write out her ideas in peace. She had since found international success as a fiction writer, and had recently returned to the Leaf for a book signing. Hearing news of Kanoko's arrival, Tsunade impulsively made the decision to meet with her in person.

After writing a few more notes in the book, Tsunade tossed Kanoko's guidebook in her desk. If Jiraiya were around she would have felt more comfortable discussing the Kichiro case with him, but she didn't have the patience to wait for him to return.

"Come on, Shizune, we're going out,"

Tonton scurried behind Tsunade as she descended the steps. When she got to the door of the library, she saw Shizune staring at an old photo.

"Oh, it's of you and uncle Dan!" Shizune said.

Tsunade sighed and leaned against the door frame. A very clear image of Dan flashed through Tsunade's mind in that moment, but she shook her head in order to refocus. She didn't even want to see the photo for fear that she would get caught up in her memories of him.

"We don't have time for nostalgia," Tsunade said.

Shizune frowned and placed the photo on a stack of books nearby. She followed Tsunade out silently. As the two ladies crossed the village, they were greeted by many villagers. Children pranced around them, waving at Shizune and Tsunade before they took off running and shop owners shouted their "hellos" as the ladies passed by.

"I'm surprised we haven't seen Naruto much lately," Shizune said. Tonton oinked at the sound of his name.

"He's been training a lot more these days, the kid's growing up. I've been waiting for the day he's stops barging into my office like a maniac."

They walked through a crowd of people waiting to buy produce and passed by several noodle shops. It was nearly impossible for Shizune to resist the urge to ask Lady Tsunade where exactly where they were going and what exactly they were looking for.

Finally, Tsunade stopped outside of a bookstore. There was a crowd of people gathered around the entrance, talking excitedly about Nishi's latest work.

"I've never seen this many people around here" Shizune said. After a few minutes, the crowd grew more excited when they saw the famous Kanoko Nishi exit the store. She was an elegant middle aged woman with long orange hair. She wore a flowy white blouse and the purple frame of her glasses matched the color of her pants. Kanoko also had a soft, calming voice which she used to bring the crowd to silence.

"Hello everyone," Kanoko said, "Thank you for coming out today."

Tsunade worked her way through the crowd and crossed her arms once she got to the front. To her left, she heard someone sniffling and turned her head. The person sobbing was none other than Might Guy, who was gripping one of Kanoko's books tightly to his chest.

Tsunade turned her attention to Kanoko who informed the crowd that she would be having another signing at the bookstore the next day. She thanked them for sticking around to see her, and even when most of the crowd dispersed, a few eager fans, Guy included, tried to get her attention. When Kanoko saw Tsunade she smiled and excused herself from a group of fans who had approached her with several questions.

"Tsunade!" Kanoko said. She took a few graceful strides over to greet her old friend.

"Hello Kanoko, welcome back to the Leaf village." Tsunade said, "I see you've been embraced with open arms."

"Oh, Tsunade, it's been such a long time! Oh look at your skin! You don't look a day over 25!"

Before Tsunade could respond, Guy's sniffling interrupted her.

"Please excuse him, he has a condition," Tsunade said.

"She's right, I do," Guy said, "and it's a condition only intensified by the power of youth that flows through the veins of your characters!"

Shizune handed Guy a tissue as he continued on about how much of an honor it was to meet Kanoko.

"Guy, this isn't the time," Tsunade said before turning back to Kanoko, "I have something urgent I would like to discuss with you."

Kanoko raised her eyebrows. She crossed her arms, mimicking Tsunade.

"The Hokage wants to speak with me?" she said, "Something tells me this isn't about my record breaking book sales."

"I see you still have your sense of humor," Tsunade said, "Hopefully, you have an appetite, too. I think we should talk over dinner."

Tsunade eventually convinced Guy to take his tearful antics elsewhere. Shizune trailed behind both Tsunade and Kanoko as they walked to a barbeque restaurant. She noticed how Kanoko's light-hearted nature lead her to make multiple attempts to speak with Tsunade even though the Hokage kept her responses to the author brief.

"Are you sure this is a good place for Tonton," Shizune said once they arrived. Kanoko laughed heartily at her comment.

"Oh, that's a great one," Kanoko said, "Tsunade aren't you going to introduce me to this young lady?"

"This is Shizune, my apprentice," Tsunade said, "As for Tonton, you can always walk her back if you don't feel like holding her in your lap."

"No, I-, I mean I-," Shizune sighed, "It's all right, she'll be safe in my lap."

Once they were inside, the three women were seated immediately. A few customers tried to approach Kanoko for an autograph, but backed away once Tsunade glared at them.

"My, Tsunade, I am so happy to see you," Kanoko said, "You don't know how excited I was when I found out a few years back that you were Hokage. It must be amazing, huh?"

Tsunade shrugged. Shizune looked between Tsunade and Kanoko, as she picked up a piece of meat. Kanoko had a playful yet mischievous look on her face as she continued to asked Tsunade questions about her life."

"Look, I didn't come here to be interviewed," Tsunade said.

"Then what business do we have here, my dear?" Kanoko replied.

"I want to know what you know about a man named Kichiro Hayashi."

Kanoko took a piece of meat off the grill and ate it. She started at the table as she chewed.

"Kichiro Hayashi? Hmph. I don't know much, but I know this," Kanoko said, "He's a danger to kunoichi everywhere."

"Ah, so you have heard of his all-female team of ninja assassins?" Tsunade said, "It reminds me of something out of one of your novels."

"I have," Kanoko's expression shifted from solemn to excited when she realized that Tsunade had admitted to reading her books, "I didn't realize you were a fan."

"Not really, I've mostly just been skimming. I have a theory that this Kichiro's been misusing some of the rules of your guidebook for kunoichi. For example, your suggestions on how to exploit the appearance of a damsel."

"Ah yes," Kanoko said, "I explained how kunoichi can take on the damsel role to trap their victims into thinking they are defenseless before ambusing them."

"One of our jonin recently discovered one of Kichiro's hideouts filled with books on training young women to be skillful shinobi. In the one of the hideouts we found there were notebooks full of details on how he planned to attack a small, unnamed village. A week later, he struck a village near the border. Your book hasn't been found in any hideout, but-"

Kanoko laughed and tapped her chopsticks on the table.

"If my guidebook hasn't been found, then why question me?"

"Your guidebook was groundbreaking, especially for its time. Rumor is, many shinobi villages incorporated your advice into their own training programs. It seems as though every shinobi except Leaf shinobi have used your words to strengthen their own military power. I'm surprised you even published information like that."

"It was foolish of me to do so," Kanoko went silent for a few seconds.

"I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad, nor am I blaming you for the actions of Kichiro," Tsunade said, in a softer tone.

Tsunade always suspected that part of the reason Kanoko published her guidebook was to spite the elders of the Leaf village who criticized her program for kunoichi. Kanoko used to be a young and passionate woman who loved to push back against authority, so when they told her that she couldn't train young women to be fierce fighters, she published a whole book worth of her training rules and tips. Kanoko knew that someone somewhere would find them useful, but she did not know how deeply disappointed Lord Third would be when he realized that information that should have remained exclusive to the Leaf became so easily accessible.

"I wasn't thinking back then. I was just so upset that they didn't give my ideas a chance" Kanoko said, "They had the Anbu follow me for years, you know? There's a reason why I now stick to writing light hearted fiction."

"Look, it isn't your fault. I know you just wanted to be heard. The elders...and especially that Danzo..."

"I know!" Kanoko said, "_If a woman must be a shinobi, she must leave behind all feminine foolery!_"

"_Likely, she is already a hindrance to her male comrades._" Tsunade continued to mock Danzo as well "_In my opinion,_ _Few women are even fit to call themselves shinobi._"

"Coming from a guy who, despite his best efforts, has never been fit to be Hokage," Kanoko said, "I mean a woman became Hokage before he could!"

The three ladies laughed heartily. Tsunade realized that she missed having a female friend in the Leaf who understood her concerns. Tsunade felt her authority was always questioned and undermined and it frustrated her constantly. Having to be tough all the time was wearing her out, but she believed that Kanoko was one of the few that would be able to understand her vision for the revamped kunoichi program.

"Kanako," Tsunade said, "I've decided to put together a team of kunoichi and train them according to your guidebook."

"What?" Kanoko and Shizune said simultaneously. Kanoko tried to masked the fact that she was shocked that Tsunade, a sannin, was so inspired by her work. She had always looked up to Tsunade, and was honored that her ideas would be used to help the Leaf as she once intended.

"Oh, I bet your training program wouldn't even last a week," Kanoko said with a smirk on her face.

"You bet?" Tsunade said, she slammed her hand on the table, "So you bet, huh?"

"Oh boy," Shizune said, "I think she meant "bet" figuratively, my lady."

"I'll take you up on you bet, Nishi!" Tsunade said, "I almost forgot that you were as competitive as I am. Shizune, I want you to bring some of our favorite chunin to my office tomorrow, we'll organize training groups in the morning. Those kids need something to do anyway."

"And what about Naruto?"

"Him too, that knucklehead will drive me crazy if we leave him out of this. Something tells me those clones of his will come in handy."

Shizune placed her palm on her face and sighed. She wished she had been able to stop Tsunade's plans sooner, but she was also glad that Kanoko entertained Lady Tsunade. Shizune didn't fully trust Kanoko, but she did find her likeable and hoped that she would continue to be a good friend to the Hokage. Unfortunately, Shizune also believed things were never that simple, and that some form of darkness would rear its ugly head soon enough.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Lady Tsunade's Challenge Number #1

The following morning Tsunade summoned several young ninja to her office. As they filed in she made her final notes on the pages of the guidebook. Throughout the previous night, she had awaken several times to scribble out her plan and work on pairings for the training program. By morning, she was satisfied with her work, although she avoided looking in the mirror to see how much of a toll her planning had taken on her body.

"I have called you all here to try out something new," Tsunade said, "There's a certain villainous character that has been eluding our forces lately. His name is Lord Kichiro Hayashi and he and his band of female ninja have been assaulting villages throughout the Land of Fire. His kunoichi are young, but elite, and like with all enemies, it helps to be our strongest when we take them on. Because this is such a unique case, I thought this would also be a proper time to introduce a specialized training program for young kunoichi. Starting today, all of you will play a role in the Leaf Kunoichi training program whenever you aren't preparing for a mission."

"Wait a minute," Naruto said, "If this training is for kunoichi then why are guys here?"

"I was getting to that, you brat," Tsunade said, "As all of you may have noticed, the number of mission request we've received lately is fairly low. That being said, we must put our all into training between missions so that we remain strong. I thought it would be best to start this program with a partner system. Each of you, kunoichi or not, have been selected to play a role in the success of this program partially because you will likely be responsible for apprehending Kichiro and his group as well."

Tsunade demanded that they listen closely as she announced the groups and provided instructions. She paired Neji and Ino, Tenten and Sai, Hinata and Rock Lee, and Sakura with both Shikamaru and Choji.

"Huh? Sakura gets two?" Naruto said. Ino crossed her arms, but didn't dare protest. Sakura smiled nervously, and her hand twitched as she glared at Naruto. She was itching to slap him, but luckily for him, he was too far away. The shinobi chatted among themselves about the pairings. All of them were confused about their involvement in the program, but Tsunade didn't care to address their concerns.

"Enough! There's more to this," Tsunade said, "Ladies, I am familiar with all of your abilities, but I chose to pair you with partners who you don't usually train with because I want you to learn something new. I'm giving you a week to develop a new skill, and-"

"Hey, what about me?" Naruto said, "I wasn't assigned to any group."

"Yeah, me and Akamaru weren't either," Kiba said. Shino was offended that he seemed to be forgotten again, but dealt with that silently.

"Kiba, Shino, and Naruto will play an important role in my assessment of the kunoichi's new skills. There is also a chance that we'll need a few of you available for any missions that pop up. Consider your roles special and quit whining. I advise all of you to get started immediately, but other than that, I have no more instructions. I have an idea of how this all might workout, but that knowledge is for me alone for the time being."

She shooed them out of her office, and plopped down into her chair. Shizune soon entered carrying a tray with a teapot. She saw the dark circles under Tsunade's eyes and hoped that Tsunade's decision to sacrifice her sleep would pay off. Tsuande's eyelids felt heavy as she watched Shizune pour the tea into the cup on her desk.

"Lady Tsunade, perhaps you should take a nap," Shizune said, "They'll be fine."

Tsunade assured her that she wasn't that tired, but once Shizune left, Tsunade put her head on her desk and passed out. Shizune returned shortly after to ask a question, but found Hokage sleeping with her arms sprawled out on her desk. Shizune then picked up the cup of cooling tea, and drank it as she exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"All right, Hinata, are you prepared to feel the power of youth burn inside you like never before?" Rock Lee stood in front of Hinata with his fist near his chest. He bowed slightly and closed his eyes as he remembered the encouraging words of Guy-sensei. They had walked to a flat, grassy area that had several tree stumps and training dummies. Hinata sat on one of the stumps and wrung her hands together as she looked down at the grass around them. She was happy to have a chance to work with Lee, but was completely unsure of why they were paired together.

"Hinata, is there anything that you wish to work on?"

"Well, I...um, I..." she said in her soft voice.

"Do not be afraid to say anything that you desire, anything at all that would make you a more splendid kunoichi! I will help you achieve your goal!"

"I guess, I, um, would want to work on being more confident," Hinata said, "I think I've improved, but I, uh, still would like to work on it."

"That is an excellent idea!" Rock Lee shouted. A group of birds that were resting in a nearby tree scattered when they heard his exclamation.

Lee even startled Hinata so much that she almost fell back off of the stump she was sitting on. For about five minutes he lectured her about how confidence strengthens the will of the youth and she nodded along. Although Rock Lee was far more outgoing, Hinata did feel more comfortable with the idea of working with him for the week as she listened to him. If she were to gain an ounce of confidence, she believed she would be closer to her goal of getting Naruto to acknowledge her, and she would keep that idea in her mind as she trained with Rock Lee.

"Okay Hinata, I promise to help you develop confidence and a skill to present to Lady Tsunade at the end of this training week!"

"Thank you, Lee," Hinata said sincerely.

"Our first lesson will begin after I aquiring a pair of leg weights for you!"

"Oh!" Hinata put her hand to her mouth. She wondered if she would also have to wear the green jumpsuit he and Guy-sensei wore. She was frightened, but determined to do her best to train as hard as she could.

Right after the meeting with Lady Tsunade, Tenten and Sai split up for an hour. Tenten took that time to finish sharpening and reorganizing her ninja tools, while Sai spent time browsing through the sections of the bookstore. They reunited near one of Sai's favorite drawing spots, a place next to a small stream in the woods where he would often draw whatever animal or tree that caught his eye. When Tenten arrived he didn't greet her, although he was well aware of her presence. He was sitting on the ground and had already began drawing her form from his memory before she even showed up. Tenten stood over him with her hands on her hips for a few minutes. She was a practical kunoichi, but wasn't known for being patient.

"What exactly is it that you're doing, Sai? You're supposed to be helping me learn a new skill," Tenten said.

Sai gave her his famous, semi-creepy smile. He looked at her for a few seconds to figure out what else he needed to draw and continued his work.

"I'm drawing you," he said in a matter-of-fact-tone.

"What, you didn't even ask for permission!" she said. Sai open his bag and shuffled through it. He withdrew a purple book with a girl posing on its cover. He flipped through it, nodded, and then put it away.

"You're right, I must have forgotten this rule," Sai said, "My apologies, I went to purchase a female empowerment book after our meeting this morning and tried to memorize as much of it as I could. Do I have your permission to continue drawing you?"

Tenten was inclined to say "no", but she decided to go along with it, and she hoped that accepting his oddness would make him more likely to want to help her.

"Yeah, sure," Tenten sighed.

She was having a difficult time keeping up with Guy-sensei's energy lately, and a part of her welcomed the idea of having a new training partner. She also wondered how much thought Lady Tsunade put into selecting Sai. As far as Tenten could tell, she and Sai had little in common and communication between them would be difficult.

"Okay, let's think," Tenten said, "What new skill could you help me learn in just a week?"

Sai didn't respond. He figured an answer would come to him as he concentrated on perfecting his drawing of Tenten. He took his time to draw the details of her clothes, and didn't speak again until he was almost done.

"In an ideal situation and if we were closer friends, I would teach you a version of my drawing ninjutsu, but I'm confident that you couldn't even master a part of it, especially with the little time we have."

"Gee, thanks."

Sai compared his drawing to Tenten. He was very close to finding the answer they were both looking for.

"You are a ninja tool user, correct?"

"Yes," Tenten said, "Why? Is that a problem?"

"Then that's what we'll focus on," Sai said. Tenten raised an eyebrow. She knew more about ninja tools than most of their peers, and she still didn't understand what Sai meant.

Sai then drew a weapon into the hand of his drawing of Tenten and then smiled. He finally turned the drawing around showed it to her.

"Okay," she said, pleasantly surprised, "This might work."

Sakura, Choji, and Shikamaru met up to discuss their training strategy on the roof of an apartment complex. Choji suggested they meet at his favorite barbeque place, but Shikamaru disagreed, saying that Choji would be so focused on eating that he wouldn't remember anything they planned.

"I don't know why she's having us do something like this now," Shikamaru said, "Even if we don't have any big missions, I'm not sure we have the resources to maintain this program."

He turned to look out across the village at the statues of the Hokages, and ran through several training plans in his head.

"Yeah, but it's not like any of us could do something about it," Sakura said, "It's Lady Tsunade's decision after all."

"Why do you think she put us two with you, Sakura?" Choji asked. He wasn't a strategist like Shikamaru, but he did believe in taking his time to try and understand things.

"I don't know, like Naruto said, I'm the only kunoichi who was assigned to two training partners, there's definitely a reason for that."

Shikamaru figured that Lady Tsunade would have the four kunoichi she summoned to go after Kichiro's team eventually and that Sakura would be the leader of that team. He also knew that Sakura's new skill would have to be something that would relate to both his and Choji's attacks at the same time, which meant that it would have to be an ability that required both strength and strategy.

"Anyway, there's no real point in questioning her reasoning now," Shikamaru said. He shook his head and walked closer to Sakura and Choji who were sitting on a bench between several clothing lines.

"What are you thinking?" Sakura said.

"I could keep working this out in my head, but since you're the one who has to learn a new skill we should really get you moving. I was thinking we could probably do some training in a place where we could afford to do some damage. This might require combat, but nothing too crazy, we are a team now after all."

"Oh, yeah," Choji said, "Let's go, Team Saku-Shika-Cho!"

"Uh, I don't know if we should call ourselves that, it's kind of..." Sakura said.

Choji and Shikamaru looked at her. Sakura was going to say it was lame, but she held her tongue. There was no point in being rude to them, but she wasn't 100% comfortable with Lady Tsunade's decision to make them her training partners. To Sakura, Shikamaru was smart, but lazy, and Choji was a glutton who she didn't think could help her learn anything.

"Look, I know this isn't ideal for you," Shikamaru said, "It's not exactly fun for us either, but we have a duty. We're comrades, whether we're on a mission or not. I want to help you, but you have to want to learn, otherwise this won't work."

Sakura was stunned by Shikamaru's words. She was embarrassed to know that Shikamaru could tell that she was judging them. Sakura blushed, and stated that she would commit to learning a skill with their help.

"I don't exactly know what kind of skill the Hokage is looking for you to develop, but she has faith in you. Hopefully you'll have a little faith in us," Shikamaru said, "Let's go, Choji, you dad said he wanted to speak with us soon. We'll meet you at Ichiraku's in about two hours, and I'll fill you in on my training plan as we walk to the field."

Choji and Shikamaru said goodbye to Sakura. She sat on the bench by herself as the wind blew the leaves across the roof. The clothes around her flapped in the wind and she sighed. She remembered the time Naruto and Sasuke fought each other on a roof, and Kakashi intervened before she could reach them. She felt horrible, but she knew in her heart that she couldn't have stopped them if she tried. Even with her strength and training under Lady Tsunade, Sakura felt as though she was nowhere near as skilled as many of her peers. If the training was intended to make her more helpful as a comrade, the least she could do was try her best to learn something new. She had to trust that Lady Tsunade was right to put her with Shikamaru and Choji. Tsunade was her mentor after all.

Ino spent most of her afternoon caring for the flowers in the Yamanaka Flower Shop. After the meeting, she and Neji went their separate ways without making concrete plans to train together. After the meeting she went straight to the shop to throw out old flowers and to change the flowers in the display window. She felt at peace being alone in the shop, but she couldn't stop worrying about learning a new skill.

"What can that guy teach me anyway?" she mumbled as she watered a white flower.

"How to properly care for a camelia, perhaps."

Ino's eyes widened and she turned to see Neji standing in the door with Hanabi, Hinata's younger sister. Ino froze for a second as Neji and Hanabi stared at her. Ino then quickly welcomed them and invited them to explore the shop as much as they liked.

"Pick whichever you like, Hanabi," Neji said. Hanabi left his side to look around the shop.

"Fancy seeing you here, huh?" Ino laughed nervously, "I was just finishing up my shift."

"An elder of our clan is sick," Neji said, "Hanabi wanted to bring her flowers so I brought her here since this is a flower shop after all."

"Ah, yeah, of course, duh!"

Neji joined Hanabi in her search for the perfect flowers. Ino watched from the corner of her eye as Neji and Hanabi examined a blossom. Ino could have sworn that Neji smiled slightly when Hanabi said that one of the flowers looked like the face of a puppy. Ino had an idea to gather several flowers to show Neji and Hanabi, but Hanabi made her selection just before Ino could approach them.

When the two Hyuga were ready to leave, Ino went to the register. Ino made an attempt at small talk, but Neji regarded her as a stranger as he paid her for the flowers.

"Hanabi, please wait outside, I'll be just a minute," Neji said. Hanabi nodded and left the shop with beautiful pink and white flowers in hand. Ino felt her stomach churn when Neji turned to look at her.

"Something wrong?" she said.

"I don't know why Lady Tsunade made us partners, but I want you to know that I take training seriously." Neji said.

"I do, too," Ino said, trying to mimic his serious tone.

"If we are to make any progress, we must communicate in an honest fashion." Neji said, "I must ask, is there anything that would make it difficult for you to work with me?"

Ino never really connected with Neji, and while there was no reason for her to hate him, she was a little uneasy around him at times. He was unlike her fellow members of Ino-Shika-Cho. Neji was intelligent, but lacked the sense of humor that Shikamaru had. Choji was lighthearted and friendly, and Neji wasn't. She just never knew what to say to Neji and had managed to avoid talking to him for a long period of time until that day.

"No, no, we'll work well together! Don't worry!" Ino gave him a forced smile.

"I can tell that you're not being sincere," Neji said, "But hopefully sincerity will come in time. Tomorrow morning at dawn we'll meet here. Please try to be on time."

Neji exited the shop before she could find the words to respond. Her embarrassment turned into irritation, and she slammed her fist down on the counter.

"Ugh, that guy."

Even though she was upset, the anxiety she had before was gone. Her main goal became developing a skill that was better than Sakura's. Ino was determined to channel all of her energy into training with Neji, no matter how hard the process would be.

As Ino got lost in her thoughts, Kanoko Nishi entered the shop.

"Hi," Kanoko said, "Are you open?"

Something about the orange haired woman was terrifyingly familiar, but Ino couldn't figure it out. Ino could sense that Kanoko's chakra was powerful, and was so overwhelmed by it that she couldn't bring herself to speak. Instead, Ino nodded to indicate that the shop was open.

"Good," Kanoko said, "This place always had the most precious flowers."

_Who is this woman? _Ino thought. She watched as Kanoko touched a plant and three of its flowers bloomed.

_Whoever she is, I don't think she should be here._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Test

Outside of a small village in the Land of Spices stood a middle aged man in a tattered black cloak accompanied by three young women who were dressed in white gowns. The man looked at the village in the distance and cursed to himself. He then turned to his accomplices and cleared his throat.

"It is time," he said in a calm, deep voice, "It is time for you, my daughters, to assist me in a crucial part of this mission. If you perform well today, it will take us no time to seize the power of the Nishi clan's heiress and reach our goal. Are you prepared to do as I have instructed you?"

The three young women nodded simultaneously. The man then fell to the ground and transformed into a battered, young man. The three young kunoichi transformed into medical nin attire and summoned a stretcher to carry him into the village.

"So that's Kichiro's plan," Kakashi said, as he watched the scene from afar, "I thought as much."

Kichiro and his ninja approached the village in their disguises, and soon Kakashi appeared before them. A young woman with platinum blonde hair and deep green eyes stepped forward. She had a kind face, but something about her was otherworldly.

"Excuse me, sir, we were just looking for a place to take our brother. He was attacked by bandits on the road,"

"He was the only one attacked?" Kakashi said.

"Yes, he had traveled ahead of us, and by the time we caught up with him he had been beaten," she said. The other two young women stood on either side of their "brother", holding his stretcher. There was no hint of nervousness or urgency on their faces as they stood and stared at Kakashi.

_They're about to make a move,_ Kakashi thought, _I have to act fast. _

Before he could attack, the body on the stretcher began to contort. The man let out an unearthly scream which froze Kakashi in his tracks. The trees nearby began to melt into the ground, and blood gushed from the dirt beneath Kakashi's feet. The piercing sound shook Kakashi's limbs, but he remained focused on stopping his foes.

_This genjutsu is powerful, but they'll have to do a lot more than that. _

He released himself from the genjutsu to see that Kichiro and his group had disappeared. He figured that they had either escaped into the village or dispersed into the nearby woods. By that time, some of Kakashi's shinobi comrades had just taken their place near the village's gates, so Kichiro likely sensed them and retreated.

Based on what Kakashi could decipher from the cryptic notebooks, Kichiro was looking for a place that had some connection to broken bones and honey. The small village had many beekeepers and sold large amounts of honey, but so did many other villages. It was a vague enough of a hint to keep search parties occupied while Kichiro targeted his next victims. Kakashi had to do some quick additional research to identify the village and travel there in time to stop Kichiro. The journey to that village was grueling, but Kakashi made sure he was battle ready. As he sensed the ninja moving behind the distant trees he thought of multiple ways to take them out. He revealed his Sharingan and headed in their direction. They sprung out at him as he approached their hiding spot amongst the trees.

"I was hoping you wouldn't turn out to be cowardly," Kakashi said. He was slightly impressed by the three kunoichi's bold move to attack him straight on, but he was immediately suspicious of their decision to avoid using ninjutsu. He was able to avoid their attacks by blocking one after the other, and he only delivered a few hits to each of them.

Kakashi's shadow clone stood in a nearby tree, studying the patterns of the fighters. Kichiro attacked the clone from behind with a giant shuriken, which caused the clone vanish. Kichiro didn't realize that the real Kakashi was underground and was planning on using his lightning cutter attack to maim Kichiro.

In the split second that it took for Kakashi to break through the ground, Kichiro sensed him and jumped high into the air. Kakashi continued up into the air with great speed, as Kichiro's body descended. Before the two collided, Kakashi realized that Kichiro had focused a massive amount of chakra into his hand, but was not in a position to hit Kakashi. When the two got closer, Kichiro slid his hand through the massive, lighting blast and removed it from Kakashi's hand. Although shocked, Kakashi managed to jump far away from his attacker. Kichiro, in his middle aged form, laughed at Kakashi as he held the copy ninja's lightning in his hand.

"Thank you for this Kakashi," Kichiro said, "I'll be sure to use it later."

The lightning dissolved into Kichiro's hand and the three kunoichi ran over to attack Kakashi for attempting to assault their master. Because the young women were believed to be pawns, Tsunade instructed Kakashi not to kill them. He was still trying to find a way to get the kunoichi away from Kichiro, when one of his Leaf comrades radioed him to asked if he needed back-up. When he decided to accept assistance in apprehending his enemies, one of the young kunoichi used a jutsu that caused her and her team to vanish.

Kakashi quickly scanned the area. For a moment he believed that he was caught in another genjutsu, but reality set in. They had disappeared without a trace. He observed the battle area until Aoba arrived from his post in the nearby village and questioned Kakashi about what had happened.

"I'm not entirely sure," Kakashi said, "All I know is that I've been robbed."

A day later, as Kakashi and his comrades traveled back to the Hidden Leaf village, Lady Tsunade met the selected chunin (and Naruto) in a training field. Each team had trained day and night for the past week, and had mixed feelings about how prepared they were to present what they had learned. The Hokage was a tough critic, and some of the young shinobi would have been satisfied if their skills only received a nod from Tsunade.

"Okay, who's ready to go first," Tsunade said. Naruto stood behind her with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Kiba stood next to him with Akamaru at his side, and Shino stood the furthest from the group as he gave a pep talk to his bugs.

"I'm glad you all made it here on time," Tsunade said, "Now start stretching and doing your warm ups."

As the training teams began warming up, Tsunade reviewed her plan with Naruto and the others. A half hour later Tsunade stopped them to introduce Kanoko who had just arrived to observe their skills.

Ino watched Kanoko as she introduced herself. She was a pleasant looking older woman, but her chakra was still as odd as it was in the shop. Pretty soon, Ino would learn why.

"Hello! It's great to meet you all," Kanoko said, "I look forward to seeing what you've been working on."

After the introduction, Tsunade ordered Sakura's group to present first. The rest of the ninja stepped back to give them space.

Choji, Shikamaru, and Sakura walked toward the center of the field. Choji transformed into a human boulder and Shikamaru readied himself to use his shadow possession. Sakura created a large distance between herself and her training partners.

"Okay," Sakura yelled, "I'm ready."

Shikamaru stretched a shadow to control Choji and the two connected like a ball to a chain. Shikamaru used the shadow to move Choji in a circle around him. Sakura charged toward them, and then jumped hard onto the ground to propel herself high into the sky. A few of the observing ninja gasped.

"You're going to want to move further back!" Shikamaru yelled to the spectators. The ninja ran further away from the field.

Sakura's jump into the ground caused a piece of the land to break and stick up from the ground diagonally. Shikamaru then used his shadow possession to send Choji over the broken piece of land which acted as a ramp. When Choji shot into the air, Sakura had channeled a massive amount of chakra into her fists and slammed him way back down into the ground. The effect was devastating. The hit sent a large burst of energy across the field in every direction, breaking many of the trees on the field's border and knocking back all observers. To protect himself, Choji had sent out a layer of chakra to cover his body so when he landed the pain he felt was not too intense. Shikamaru managed to back far away enough when he released Choji, so he was not very impacted by Sakura's strike either. The field, however, was badly broken up.

"Man, talk about monster strength! Sakura, that was amazing!" Naruto yelled, as he and the others ran back to their original positions.

"She really is your student, Tsunade," Kanoko said. Tsunade nodded with pride.

"Well, where are the rest of us supposed to present?" Ino said, "The ground is all broken and bumpy."

"It's like real battleground now, that just makes things more interesting," Tsunade said, "Okay, good job you three, next is Hinata and Rock Lee against Naruto!"

"N-naruto!" Hinata said before covering her mouth. The confidence she had built up began to waiver.

"Oh, this is going to be tough one to watch," Tenten said.

Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji stood on the sidelines to let the next training group present. Ino helped Shikamaru hold Choji up as Choji began to feel the effects of being thrown around. Tsunade instructed them to get him some nausea medicine from the medical kit she brought.

Naruto ran out onto the field that had been turned into many mounds of dirt. Rock Lee followed him and Hinata walked out sheepishly.

"All right, don't think I'm going to go easy on you guys," Naruto said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"How original," Sakura said. She rolled her eyes and hoped that somehow Hinata would be able to push aside her love Naruto.

Knowing how shy Hinata could be, Naruto began his battle by sending most of his clones toward Rock Lee.

"Hinata! It is time to spring into action!" Rock Lee took out two of Naruto's shadow clones quickly. Hinata stood on a rocky mass of dirt, contemplating whether or not she should quit. She watched as Rock Lee battled the remaining clones, and she realized that one was missing, but it was too late.

"Hi Hinata!" Naruto sprang up behind Hinata, startling her. Instincly, she turned slapped him hard, but it turned out that it was just a clone. Clone or not, Hinata was disturbed by the fact that she could strike Naruto. She suddenly jumped off of where she was standing, and ran in the opposite direction of the battle.

"Naruto, Lee, I'm so sorry," she said to herself. She ran until she remembered that leaving would mean that she would be abandoning her duty as a kunoichi. Embarrassed, she turned back around and headed back toward Lee and Naruto. The crowd watched silently as she approached Naruto from behind. He and Lee were engaged in a verbal exchange, each claiming that they were the more committed shinobi.

She lifted her pants legs to remove the leg weights that Lee instructed her to wear all week and activated her Byakugan. Tearfully, she jumped up and kicked Naruto right in the middle of his back, sending him flying feet away. Of course, she knew that it was just a clone, and she informed Lee to look out for the real Naruto coming up on Lee's right side.

Tsunade regretted putting Hinata in a tough situation, but she knew that there was something that had to be done about Hinata's shyness. Hinata had delivered a very powerful kick that she picked up from Rock Lee, but she had to be bolder in order to use it at the right time.

When Naruto and Lee eventually started to wrestle each other, Hinata looked at her fellow shinobi. She was disappointed in herself, but she knew she had to train even harder.

"Don't worry," Kanoko whispered to Tsunade, "This one will get better, I've trained with several members of the Hyuga clan, I know."

"Let's hope so," Tsunade said.

Tsunade told them to all take a break, and when they returned to the field after an hour, she instructed Tenten to demonstrate her skill next. Sai was assigned to be her demonstration assistant and showed the weapon to the audience.

"This is a wooden stick. There's nothing special about it, but we found that it can be a good tool for destruction, if used correctly," he said.

"The only thing you can destroy with that is a piñata," Naruto mumbled. Tsunade asked to examine the stick to make sure that it was ordinary. When she confirmed it was just a plain stick, Sai handed it to Tenten who then joined Shino on the field.

"As you probably know, my plan is to attack you with my bugs," Shino said, "Why? Because I am a bug user like the rest of my clan. Your goal is-"

Tsunade interrupted him.

"Your goal is to strike Shino to the ground, and hold him down for five seconds," Tsunade said, "You are to start...now!"

Tenten twirled the stick in her hand. A gust of wind blew across the field, tossing around the dirt. Tenten directed a slow, but steady stream of chakra into the stick as she turned it. Shino was just far away enough from her that she couldn't see the individual bugs crawling out onto his hands and face. She did see them clearly once they took they took the form of arrows. A sharp pain shot from Tenten's elbow to the hand which held the stick.

"_The pain will decrease as you improve your technique,"_ She remembered Sai saying. Shino's bug arrows fired at her. She dodged a few, and sliced others with the stroke of the stick. Her chakra had made the stick as effective as a blade, and she sliced away with ease. Unfortunately, most bugs reformed into arrows after she sliced them. At one point she found herself cutting through twenty different arrows in a matter of seconds, and she was still nowhere near Shino.

"Just a little longer..." Tenten said to herself. The pain in her arm grew more intense as she charged forward. When it was too much, she switched the stick to her other hand to strike several arrows that came her way. The observing shinobi were impressed by her speed and accuracy, but what came next really shocked them.

Tenten stood within twenty feet of Shino and started him down. He hadn't moved since the beginning of the battle because he believed that bugs would hold Tenten off effectively. Tenten put the stick back in the hand that hurt, and suddenly, the stick caught fire. Tenten twirled it at an incredible speed, and charged toward Shino once again. The bugs came to form a protective barrier in front of him, but Tenten tore through them and the barrier turned to flames. Shino didn't react at all, which made Tenten realize that she was heading straight toward a bug clone.

Wasting no time, she flung the flaming stick at Shino's bug clone, and the clone exploded. The stick returned to her, and she thrusted it behind her quickly. She anticipated that Shino would attack at close range when she wasn't looking at him, and she was right. Everyone watching was stunned as Shino jumped back trying to put out the flames on his jacket.

"Here, let me help you!" Tenten said. She knocked him down, and pointed the fiery stick down at his neck. After five seconds, Tsunade declared that Tenten had passed her challenge.

"Quite impressive," Shino said flatly.

"And that is the destructive power of the wooden stick," Sai said.

"Whoa, how did she learn that?" Naruto exclaimed.

"It looked similar to a chakra control technique that shinobi used to use," Shikamaru said, "She infused the stick with her chakra to sharpen it like a blade, and then added in the element of fire to increase the power of her attack."

Tenten helped Shino up and the two walked toward their chattering group of friends.

"I didn't know that your chakra could produce such powerful flames so quickly," Neji said. Tenten smiled, and rolled up her sleeve. Wrapped around her elbow was a bandage that had the same characters as a fire scroll.

"Sending my chakra into the stick to make it as strong as a sword was the real skill," she said, "The fire was just a bonus."

"It was a very impressive performance, Tenten," Tsunade said, "And now it's time for the last demonstration. Ino, your aim is to tag both Kiba and Akamaru. To keep it interesting, Neji will not be able to assist you."

Ino gulped. She turned to Neji and he sighed.

"But I need your help," Ino said, "The skill we practiced is a defensive technique. This requires something offensive! "

"If you stay focused, this will be brief," Neji said, "Just concentrate, Ino. You'll know how to handle this."

Ino stepped out onto the field to face Kiba and Akamaru.

"All right, Akamaru, just like we practiced."

_Okay, Ino, it's time to get creative, _Ino thought. Akamaru and Kiba used the Fang Passing Fang technique to burrow their way underground. Ino would have to get close to them to trap them with the chakra barrier technique she had been developing with Neji. Luckily, she could sense their chakra as they passed underground toward the edge of the field.

She ran in their direction as fast as she could, but they turned around and headed a different way. For several minutes, they evaded her, and she was becoming tired of running on the uneven ground. For just a second, she was able to predict where they were headed, but she realized that she could not force them above ground. It was clear that she had to use a different technique.

Her usual jutsu wouldn't work because most of the observers were familiar with them. As she grew more tired, she recalled her conversation with Kanoko in the flower shop. Kanoko revealed to Ino that she was a distant relative of the Yamanaka clan, and proved it by telling Ino some of the clan's stories once the shop closed. Ino didn't fully trust her, but that conversation did inspire Ino to ask her father to help her learn a mild version of one of their clan's jutsu.

Ino had a choice. She could keep chasing after Kiba and Akamaru until she ran out of energy, or she could use what her father taught her. To save herself the embarrassment and energy, she used the Yamanaka jutsu.

She made the hand signs for the Mind Targeting Jutsu, a jutsu that pulls its user and opponent together at a great speed. Just then, her body jumped across the field and Kiba and Akamaru were forced back up above ground. They were stunned that they had been yanked so close to her by an unseen force. She tapped each of them on their faces.

"I got you!" Ino said.

_Something about that jutsu is very familiar_, Shikamaru thought. Neji folded his arms. If Ino just committed to waiting until Kiba and Akamaru came back to the surface, she could have used the technique Neji worked on with her. Most of the observers were very impressed, even Sakura couldn't help but applaud Ino (even if she was jealous).

Tsunade knew the jutsu Ino used was not a new one, and she would speak to Kanoko about that later. The Hokage applauded the participants and said that she would give them a new task the next day. As the young shinobi left, Shizune arrived to alert Tsunade that they received news about Kichiro.

"I'll speak with you later," Tsunade said to Kanoko. Kanoko watch as Tsunade and Shizune left the field. Kanoko sighed and walked out onto the middle of the mass of overturned dirt.

"I guess I'll just clean up," Kanoko said to herself. She stomped onto the ground releasing a massive amount of orange chakra. She smoothed over the entire field and clasped her hands together to grow the grass back. When she was done, the field was almost as it had been before Sakura's attack.

_Whoa, _Ino thought, as she watched Kanoko from behind the trees, I _don't know if she's trustworthy, but she sure is powerful_.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Encounter With the Mysterious Kunoichi

As a month of intense training came to an end, Tsunade noticed a change in the four selected kunoichi. Hinata's taijutsu skills had greatly improved, and she spoke with more confidence than before. Tenten had began perfecting her kenjutsu with an old sword she received from Sai after their skill assessment. Sakura's ability to contribute to a team had also improved, but Tsunade felt Sakura still had a long way to go before she could lead. As for Ino, Tsunade decided to deal with her disappointment in her later.

Within the span of a few weeks, Kichiro had kidnapped several more kunoichi from across the region. Luckily, Tsunade was able to learn more about Kichiro's motives from intelligence reports from the Anbu Black Ops trailing him. They informed Tsunade that Kichiro had been absorbing jutsu from powerful ninja to use on his enemies, and he strengthened his ability to absorb jutsu by acquiring powerful heirlooms from the kunoichi he brainwashed.

Tsunade had also instructed several Anbu to keep an eye on Kanoko Nishi who had been returning to the Hidden Leaf frequently to check on the kunoichi's progress. Tsunade told herself that she sent the Anbu after Nishi to keep her safe, but she mainly did so to protect the village. The Hokage sensed that there was some connection between Kanoko and Kichiro, but she was unsure of what it was.

All Tsunade knew was that Kanoko's powers would be very useful to a man like Kichiro. Kanoko's unique chakra allowed her to deflect powerful attacks while also absorbing some of the chakra of her foes. Due to her powers of absorption, Kanoko was able to gather information by analyzing the chakra she took from her enemies. Because Kanoko was a descendant of both the Yamanaka and Senju clans, her mastery of her mind and her ability to control her surroundings was incredible. Still, despite Kanoko's cheery nature, there was something in her that was both fragile and explosive. Something even the Third Hokage couldn't full seal, despite his best efforts.

Tsunade considered all of this as she drafted the squad assignments for the attacks on Kichiro and his band of kunoichi. She had advisors coming in and out of her office and with each visit they suggested that she alter her plans, which irritated her greatly.

As Tsunade planned away, Tenten and Neji had returned from a three day mission. The two had fought off a massive group of thugs terrorizing a defenseless village, and had just returned to the Hidden Leaf. A few of the thugs were rogue ninja, and a particularly skilled one almost stabbed Tenten. During their battle, Neji had jumped down from a tree to shield her from the attack and ended up with a deep wound in his leg.

Their journey back to the village had been a mostly silent one with Tenten constantly thinking of the moment before the blade pierced Neji's flesh. She had tended to his wounds as best she could on their journey back, and to take the pressure off of his leg, she walked under his arm to support him.

"Tenten," Neji said, as they entered the village, "Thank you."

He didn't look at her when he said it, but Tenten knew that he appreciated the care she showed him.

"Why are you thanking me," Tenten smiled, "You're the one who saved my life. I can't thank you enough."

He had once told her that he had devoted his life to protecting everything precious to him. Even though he was not very expressive, his decision to jump in front of her without regard for himself told her that she was precious to him. Tenten felt a warmth radiating from Neji as they walked together. She said she would take slow steps because of his injury, but he didn't care about the wound. Having her close to him was enough to distract him for any pain he felt. Of course, he won't say that. Not yet.

Ino spotted them once they were close to the hospital, but she hesitated to approach. After she cheated during her assessment at the field, Neji refused to speak to her for days. However, she begged and pleaded so much that he decided to train with her again, although he avoided saying much to her. Most of their training consisted of long meditations and practicing blocking techniques. Eventually, Ino convinced Neji to help her work on a new jutsu, but he was still disappointed in her. Ino wanted to regain his trust somehow.

"Hey, guys!" Ino said, "What happened?"

Neji ignored her, and looked at Tenten who took the hint to respond.

"Neji saved me from an attack on our mission," Tenten said, "Unfortunately, I'm not really gifted in medical ninjutsu, so I couldn't do very much to help him."

"I can take a look at it," Ino said, "I'm going in for a shift anyway. I'll take him in with me."

Neji gave Ino a hard look. He accepted her help, but insisted that Tenten be the one to guide him into the hospital. Once he was settled into a hospital room, he relaxed a bit. Ino had barely begun to tend to Neji's wound when Sakura came running in to find her.

"We need you right now, we have several wounded ninja," Sakura said to Ino, desperately trying to catch her breath.

Tenten and Neji glanced at each other. Ino sighed.

"Don't tell me, it's Kichiro again, isn't it?" Ino said.

"Yeah, and this time he seriously wounded a few Anbu," Sakura replied.

"What?" Ino's eyes widened.

Sakura apologized to Tenten and Neji before pulling Ino out of the room to help with the incoming wounded ninja.

"I guess your leg will have to wait," Tenten said. She wanted to remain calm, but she was more stressed than she had been in a while. Neji closed his eyes.

"If Lady Tsunade asks you to join the mission to stop Kichiro," Neji said, "Please consider not going."

Tenten was stunned by his words. When he opened his eyes, she saw a glimpse of sadness.

"Please," he continued, "I fear for you. I know you're capable, I've never seen you as someone who is defenseless, but after I jumped in front of that blade to save you...it dawned on me that..."

"That I might not be able to defend myself if things get hard?"

"No, that's not it," Neji shook his head, "But I'm getting this feeling...This man you might be going after is an unusual enemy."

Tenten walked over to him and grabbed one of his hands. She squeezed it and asked him to listen to her.

"I am a kunoichi who believes in the Will of Fire," Tenten said in a soft, but firm voice, "I promised to protect my comrades and serve my village no matter what. That's a promise I'll keep until I die, whether I die in eighty years or next week. I appreciate your concern. I...appreciate you, Neji. But if Lady Tsunade does request that I go on a mission to stop Kichiro, I will accept. You know that I must."

"I understand," Neji said as he bowed his head.

"But if I do live a long life, I would get to spend more time with you," Tenten said, blushing, "So I'll do my best to stay alive, if only for your sake."

She caressed his hand before placing it down gently. It was a perfect moment between them, and she wished for many more like that. Unfortunately, she had to prioritize her duties. She left Neji to find a medical nin to assist him, and once she did, she decided to investigate the situation with the Anbu. As she turned a corner, Shizune called out to her.

"Tenten, are you here because you have a message from Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked.

"Huh? Uh, no, no I was bringing a friend here. What's going on? I heard something about a few Anbu."

Shizune bit her lip and then sighed. She explained to Tenten that most of the Anbu after Kichiro were unharmed, and only a few were recovering from one of his attacks. But one had been killed by Kakashi's stolen lightning cutter. Hearing that news gave Tenten chills.

"So we'll be going after a guy who can just take and use something that powerful?" Tenten said, "What's our plan?"

"Lady Tsunade said she'd have someone summon us when she's ready, but it's taking longer than I thought. All I know is that if she does send you girls out, I'm going with you."

Tenten smiled and nodded. She asked Shizune more about the Anbu incident, but Shizune insisted that she had to get back to attending to the wounded. Many medical nin hurried back and forth around them. Tenten worried that the hospital would fill up with more bodies if Kichiro wasn't apprehended soon.

She took her concerns with her to her training session with Sai. They shared an open space between the trees with Rock Lee and Hinata who were practicing taijutsu. Tenten used the sword Sai had given her to slash through the beasts that he quickly drew. She did a decent job of cutting through her targets, but she was distracted by the idea of encountering the mysterious foe. Hinata landed several hits on Rock Lee which he praised her for. They continued to train for several hours until one of Naruto's clones came running toward them.

"Hey, guys! Lady Tsunade is ready for you," he said, "She said to report to her office immediately."

All members of the training teams except Neji soon filed into Tsunade's office with Naruto and his clones following directly behind them.

"It's time to start phase one of our mission to capture Kichiro. This first phase is for us to see what his three main bodyguards can do," Tsunade said, "I received a report from Katsuyu which stated that he's staying in a village known for hosting ninjas who want a place to fight. This is to be a short assignment that will hopefully help us discover his team's weaknesses in battle. Hinata, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten will go with Shizune into the village, and the rest of you will remain outside of the village in case there's an emergency. This is a reporting assignment only, do not engage with the enemy directly. Understand?"

The young shinobi all accepted their mission. Hinata, Ino, Sakura and Tenten left with Shizune immediately. Choji, Shikamaru, Rock Lee, and Sai were instructed to follow them a few hours later. Naruto complained about being left out, but Tsunade had plans for he, Shino, and Kiba.

The kunoichi's team raced through the trees toward the direction of the setting sun. The beautiful orange glow was breathtaking, but none of them could fully appreciate it. Shizune traveled at the head of their formation. She noticed that none of the girls were talking to each other, and she decided to break the silence.

"I know all of this is a bit confusing," she said, "It's been a while since we faced an enemy this elusive, but I know that we'll be able to help take him down."

"This man..." Sakura said, "He stole Kakashi sensei's lightning cutter. Why would we be able to stop him?"

Shizune sighed and agreed that their enemy was very skilled. Even so, she trusted Lady Tsunade's decision to send them.

"Well, we may not be Kakashi Hakate, but maybe that's a good thing," Shizune said.

"What do you mean?" Hinata spoke up.

"Kakashi is a very popular ninja, many people recognize him as the copy ninja, Kichiro included," Shizune explained, "It seems Kichiro knows Kakashi possesses the Sharingan, but I doubt Kichiro or his kunoichi know anything about us."

"So being nobodies will be our advantage?" Ino said.

"Hey, I'm not a nobody! Speak for yourself, Ino-pig!" Sakura said.

"If you're so worried about being called a nobody, then you might wanna write your name on that big forehead of yours!" Ino responded.

The two began arguing and Tenten sighed. Hinata jumped forward to catch up with Shizune.

"Would you mind telling me more about what we should know about this Kichiro person?" she asked.

Shizune agreed and they chatted. Once it became too dark to see ahead, they stopped and set up camp for the night. When they woke up the next morning, the five ladies continued on their journey, and were more talkative than they had been the day before. Hinata and Shizune shared their strategic ideas with the three others as they approached the battle village.

The five Leaf kunoichi arrived outside the village in the late afternoon, dressed in different colored robes. They also were inspired by Kakashi's style and wore masks that covered their mouths. Once in the village, they went in different directions to see what they could discover about Kichiro. Later, when a fighting match was about to begin in the village, they joined the crowd of village spectators who were walking toward the stadium.

"Did you find anything?" Tenten asked Hinata as they adjusted the hoods on their heads.

"I was looking around with my Byakugan and I saw a group of teenage girls on the other side of the village with unusual chakra," Hinata said.

"Unusual how?"

"Their chakra moved around in their bodies at a fast rate. But not only that, they're chakra also expanded outside of the frame of their bodies."

"Huh?"

"What I mean is, it's almost as if someone had overloaded their bodies with chakra and their bodies couldn't fully hold it in."

"So it's chaotic chakra from an outside source? Do you think that means..."

"It might mean that they're being controlled," Hinata whispered. Once inside, Hinata and Tenten separated to observe the fight from different angles.

Ino and Sakura stood near each other briefly as the stadium filled up. They noted that many of the spectators wore different kinds of masks, making them hard to identify. This made them uneasy.

"Where's Shizune?" Ino asked.

"She's still doing some investigating. Let's just focus on the fight for now," Sakura said.

The two walked away from each other. When they settled into the audience, they looked down into the center of the stadium to see the competitors. One was a white haired young woman dressed in a white bodysuit who wore a matching mask that covered her whole face. The other was a small girl with light blue hair who wore a green dress and had several tattoos on her upper left arm. When the announcer said the battle began, both competitors jumped back. The smaller girl summoned a massive body of water that filled the lower half of the stadium. The kunoichi in white jumped high up and used a jutsu which turned the opponents water into ice. They exchanged a series of water based jutsu, but the lady in white moved faster.

Sakura was amazed by the way the two fought, and she felt a twinge of jealousy because she didn't think she was as skilled as the competitors. At the same time, she felt grateful to Lady Tsunade for giving her training that Kakashi sensei didn't.

The kunoichi in white then used a fire technique against the girl in the dress, but the girl managed to dodge it. All four of the Leaf kunoichi noticed how quickly the fire spread, melting most of the ice back to water.

"They are quite fierce competitors, aren't they?" a person standing next to Sakura said in a raspy voice. She turned her head slightly to the left to see a young lady dressed in a dark green robe. Like Sakura, she was wearing a hood, but her hood covered most of the upper part of her face.

"Oh, yes, they're powerful," Sakura replied. The hooded young lady next to her didn't speak for another few minutes. Sakura noticed that, though her face was covered, a few strands of redish-pink hair stuck out from under the young lady's hood.

The fighters stood on floating pieces of ice as they planned their next moves. They jumped up to strike one another and engaged in hand to hand combat for a moment. Their timing and skill impressed the audience.

"This is even better than yesterday's fight between the girls from the Land of Roses," the hooded lady next to Sakura said.

"Yes, it is," Sakura said. She tried to hide her nervousness by taking even breathes.

"Tell me..." the hooded young woman continued, "Which do you think is better, the Warring Sister's style, or the Hatanaka Family's form?"

Sakura began to sweat, but she answered.

"I think they're both very good..." she said, "But the Hatanaka are my personal favorite."

Just then, the kunoichi in white created an ice platform that connected her to her opponent. As the smaller girl rushed toward her, the kunoichi disappeared for a second and reappeared right behind the girl. Sakura was so shocked by the kunoichi in white's ability, that she almost didn't hear the hooded young lady next to her respond.

"The Hatanaka are gifted," she said in a low voice, "Too bad they were all slaughtered some years ago. Not unlike your village's Uchiha clan."

Instinctively, Sakura jumped back. The hooded kunoichi revealed a kunai knife but Sakura avoided it just in time. The people around them were frightened and moved away quickly.

The competitors continued to fight, but suddenly the kunoichi in white moved faster. She twisted the smaller girl's arm, breaking it before flinging her downward into the water. Before the girl could resurface, the kunoichi used a jutsu that instantly made the great pool of water boil and then explode upward toward the crowd.

Several spectators ran toward the exit, and Tenten noticed that some of them were grabbed and dragged off by hooded people. She couldn't see Ino or Sakura who were on the opposite side of what was then a large steam cloud. She spotted Hinata who was trying to guide a group of young girls to an exit.

"Not so fast!" someone called from behind Tenten as she ran to help Hinata. Tenten turned to see a hooded girl with a large sword in hand. Despite being nervous, Tenten revealed her own sword and was careful not to swing it until the fleeing villagers passed them.

Ino stood on the other side of the stadium, paralzyed from witnessing the fighter in white boil the girl she threw into the water. Ino managed to dodge the water that splashed up, but couldn't bring herself to run. Suddenly, the people around her started to melt and turn into brown, mud-like blobs that then began flooding the room, covering most of Ino's body.

_This is how it will end for you, you cheater! _Ino heard the voice of Lady Tsunade say. She knew that Lady Tsunade would never say anything like that, but it took her too long to realize that she had been trapped in a genjutsu. By the time she finally bit her lip to break the genjutsu, someone had tied her up. One of the hooded women put a cloth bag over her head and punched her in the stomach, causing her to collapse.

That hooded woman then picked Ino up to carry her out of the building. Luckily, Sakura spotted the hooded person who was trying to escape with Ino as she fought the hooded enemy closest to her.

"Believe me, I would love to stay and fight," Sakura said right before she kicked the hooded woman over the railing and down into the pit where the battle took place. She hurried after Ino just as Hinata and Tenten battled their opponent. Hinata saw Sakura leave and told Tenten that they should escape too. Tenten had managed to kick their enemy to the ground, but as their hooded enemy jumped right back up, the kunoichi in white jumped up from the battle pit.

"Okay, we need to go right now!" Hinata grabbed Tenten's arm and pulled her away. When the two finally managed to get outside of the building, they searched for Shizune immediately.

Meanwhile, Sakura chased after the hooded young woman that had captured Ino. The kidnapper tried move deeper into the village, but Sakura slammed her foot into the ground which sent the kidnapper and Ino flying. She jumped up and caught Ino in time, but once she landed Sakura felt a sharp pain in her back. She placed Ino down before collapsing forward over Ino's unconscious body.

"Hey, stay away from them!" Sakura heard Choji say in the distance. She could hear Sai saying something as her vision went blurry.

"Sakura! Sakura, can you hear me?" she heard Rock Lee say, trying to hold her up.

Near the stadium people panicked and they became even more frantic once they saw the fighter in white emerge from the building. Out of thin air, a blue hair middle aged man appeared to calm them.

"Fear not, my people," he said, "The display of glory you just witness is evidence of the power of my shinobi. Cease your panicking and listen to me if you would like to prosper as a village or if you would at least like to continue living."

By that time, Tenten and Hinata had run off to look for Shizune, who they found near a row of empty houses. Shizune was badly wounded, but she insisted that they travel back to the village without her.

"No! We are not leaving you," Hinata said. "We have to find the others."

"No, please...please go," Shizune begged, "I promise we'll make it back...you have to tell Lady Tsunade...about everything...I have a message...about Kichiro...and Lady...Kanoko...Please...before they close the gates...please...go."

...And that was the beginning of their ongoing nightmare.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Bring Her In

Lady Tsunade sat facing Lady Katsuyu who had split herself to teleport to Shizune. Tsunade had a feeling that the team she sent would need medical attention and she was right. The gentle slug reported that the squad Tsunade had sent was stuck in the battle village with Kichiro's kunoichi and that Kichiro had made an appearance. There was a massive amount of chakra cycling through the village, and this news made Tsunade even more concerned than she had been before.

"Shizune has been injured, but I am healing her with the special medicine, as you requested," Katsuyu said.

"Good," Tsunade said, "Do you know how the others are?"

"They are currently battling a few foes, none of which are Kichiro himself,"

"Is there any sign of Kanoko?"

"Well..."

Katsuyu explained that Shizune managed to get inside the place in which Kichiro stayed and that Shizune found that the chakra she sensed was very similar to Kanoko's. As Katsuyu continued to report to Tsunade, there was a knock on the Hokage's door.

"Don't bother me unless it's urgent!" Tsunade yelled.

"Well, isn't that a warm welcome!" a familiar voice said.

"It's Master Jiraiya!" Katsuyu exclaimed, "Perhaps he may know what our next move should be."

"I know what our next move should be," Tsunade said. She slammed her fist on the table, but managed not to break it like she had done just the week before. Katsuyu apologized profusely, and Tsunade instructed Jiraiya to enter. He threw the door open, and like always, he presented himself in the most dramatic way possible.

"How is my favorite Hokage?"

Tsunade pointed to a stack of report papers on the desk, and told him to read through them because she didn't have much time to explain. While Jiraiya skimmed, Katsuyu reported that Shizune, Tenten and Hinata were planning to catch up with their teammates on the other side of the village. As Shizune's part of the team approached their comrades, Katsuyu was losing her ability to sense them. The poor slug panicked once she could no longer connect with the parts of her that were with the kunoichi.

"Katsuyu, what's happening?" Tsunade said.

"I-I don't know, my lady," Katsuyu said, "I can't see anything...everything in that village, it's gone from my view here."

"Well, you are very far out of range, I should have figured the jutsu I used to send part of you there would weaken. I think you should keep yourself entire essence with them, they will definitely need medical help."

"But Lady Tsunade-"

"It will be all right!" Lady Tsunade sent the rest of Lady Katsuyu to aid the others.

Jiraiya studied Tsunade's expression. From what he could read from the reports, the Leaf Anbu suspected Kanoko was guilty of assisting Kichiro in some way, and if they did find undeniable proof, Jiraiya knew that Tsunade would arrest her.

"Kanoko Nishi, huh? I remember her being quite the hottie back in the day," Jiraiya said.

"Yeah, well she'll be in some real hot water if I find out she has anything to do with this."

"You don't think she'd betray the Leaf, do you?"

"I can't be sure, I mean she's been wandering around for years and no one knows what she's been up to until recently."

"You could say the same thing about me, Tsunade," Jiraiya said, "It's not uncommon for a writer to be gone for a while, we do our best work on our travels."

Tsunade frowned and took out a copy of Kanoko's guidebook. She explained her theory about Kanoko's potential connection to Kichiro. Jiraiya listened with his arms crossed and nodded as she spoke.

"Now, don't take this the wrong way," Jiraiya put his hands up and stepped away from the desk before he continued, "But don't you think you're reading too much into this? Are you sure this isn't because the two of you were rivals for some time?"

Tsunade bit her lip. For a moment, Jiraiya feared that her silence would be followed by a slap. It was true, at one point, Kanoko and Tsunade were two of the Hidden Leaf village's most powerful kunoichi and they did both admire and envy each other. But Tsunade felt that their history didn't matter. If anything, Tsunade believed the compassion she had for Kanoko needed to be suppressed so that she could do what was best for the village and take down Kichiro.

"Look, the past is the past," Tsunade said, "Maybe I am paranoid, but she is a powerful person who could be dangerous if she is associated with the wrong people. I've been studying Kichiro's tactics, and he doesn't just copy what's in the guidebook. Some of what he's doing it's...it's only stuff someone who personally knew Kanoko could know. I recently received a report that some of his kunoichi are even using her jutsu. Who knows if one might learn to use _that_ jutsu."

"That's impossible, you know as well as I do that the Third Hokage sealed her powers and stored most of her chakra in a place that would be difficult even for you to get to. Think about what you're saying, Tsunade. You have a theory that she might be dangerous because she has a tremendous power that could do terrible damage, a power she never asked for. Would you say something like that about anyone else? Would you say that about Naruto?"

Tsunade listened to Jiraiya. He knew the point about Naruto would get to her. But Jiraiya didn't think Tsunade was completely wrong to want to keep Kanoko confined to the Leaf village.

"Listen, I've thought long and hard about this," Tsunade said, "Until we can capture Kichiro, I think we should at least keep Kanoko close to us. She's scheduled to be here next week, but we should get her here sooner."

"And what if she suspects you're stalking her?"

"Chances are, she already does, she's just too polite to say anything about it. The Anbu have been following her for a while."

"And if she does make a fuss, what will you do, Tsunade?"

Tsunade tapped her pen on her desk and looked out the window. She feared sounding like the elder advisors she often criticized. After a deep sigh, she looked up at Jiraiya with an almost defeated look.

"If she makes a fuss, I guess we'll just have to keep her locked up for a while," Tsunade said. Her voice slowly dropped to nearly a whisper, "She should know...I have to protect the village, no matter what."

What Tsunade and Jiraiya didn't know was that Kanoko had slipped out of the view of the Anbu that were following her. She had used her special chakra to create a very realistic clone as a substitute and by the time the Anbu caught on, she was headed toward the village Kichiro had just taken over. Unfortunately for Kanoko, Tsunade had instructed the Anbu to arrest Kanoko if she attempted to come in contact with Kichiro.

When Kanoko arrived, she found hundreds of villagers standing still in the village square. She followed their collective gaze to see none other than Lord Kichiro. Her stomach twisted as she watched the man with dark blue hair preach about how he was their new leader. Something about him put fear in her that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"No...it can't be," she said, with a shaky voice, "There's no way."

Before the tears could fall from her eyes, Kanoko snuck closer to the back of the crowd to blend in. When the time was right, she spoke.

"Kichiro!" Kanoko said, stopping him mid-sentence, "Is that what you're calling yourself now? Is this who you lived to be?"

"And who might you be?" Kichiro said.

She could see in his eyes that he truly did not recognize her. Maybe that was a good thing, she thought. As Kanoko looked up at Kichiro, who stood proudly on a platform made of rubble, she wanted to both attack and cry for him. Kanoko's chakra started to course rapidly through her body, and her skin was heating up. She had to make a move fast. She broke through the crowd and jumped up with the intention of landing on the platform.

"I'll end you right here!" Kanoko yelled. The kunoichi in the white bodysuit blocked her attack, and in doing so, a burst of orange chakra shot out around them. The crowd panicked, but Kanoko stayed focused. There was something familiar about the kunoichi in white, too, but Kanoko didn't care about that at the moment. After a brief, hand-to-hand scuffle with the kunoichi, Kanoko flung her off of the platform. Then, it was just her and Kichiro.

For a fraction of a second, Kichiro did recognize Kanoko. Even so, he still attacked her. He managed to hit her a few times, but Kanoko found an opening and slammed her fist into his chest. To her surprise, his chest was hollow and he disappeared.

"A shadow clone," Kanoko said, "Of course."

Kanoko realized that the kunoichi in white was also a clone, and their appearance before the crowd was just a diversion. She closed her eyes to focus on finding the young Leaf shinobi who she believed were in grave danger. The citizens cheered for her, but she ran off when she picked up on Shizune's chakra.

Meanwhile, Katsuyu had healed Shizune significantly, but Shizune's chakra level was low. When Tenten, Hinata, and Shizune reached their comrades to assist them, they found them battling the red haired hooded kunoichi who had stood by Sakura during the fight in the stadium. Sakura had kicked a clone of her into the pit, and she had followed Sakura out of the stadium to strike her in back with a kunai knife.

Tenten and Hinata jumped into the fight to help Shikamaru, Choji and Sai. Rock Lee was looking after Sakura and Ino, and motivating them to stay conscious. Luckily, clones of Katsuyu were helping them recover.

The red haired kunoichi went after Shikamaru and Choji, but Sai pulled them up in the air with a bird he created with his super beast scroll. This bought Shikamaru some time to strategize. The red haired kunoichi used a fire based jutsu to make a dragon made of flames that chased the three of them through the air.

While they were occupied with that battle, Tenten unrolled a massive scroll she had been carrying under her robe. She didn't notice that the unconscious kunoichi who Sakura had knocked out for kidnapping Ino was beginning to regain consciousness.

"If I take one of these weapons out, putting it back would be difficult," Tenten said, "But I can't let that thing get them."

All of them were fighting in an open, paved area with few houses and no villagers close by, which meant that Tenten did have the space she needed to use the most suitable weapon she had. She summoned a large, harpoon-like weapon which she fired at the enormous fire dragon. Soon after she hit it, Tenten heard Shizune yell that someone was behind her. Tenten turned back around to see the kidnapper who had regained consciousness. Her hood had fallen back and Tenten could see that she was a teenage girl with platinum blonde hair who was armed with a sword.

Hinata looked between the fire dragon that was writhing in the air and Tenten and her opponent. Hinata saw another hooded kunoichi running toward her from the opposite end of the paved space. Lady Kanoko had just appeared on the scene when Hinata and that kunoichi clashed.

Kanoko rushed to check on Ino, Shizune and Sakura who were still healing.

"Hi ladies," she said, "Shizune, I've discovered something, I know who's behind this."

"Is that person you by any chance, Lady Kanoko?" Shizune said, "It seems to me that you have something to do with this."

"No, I mean...it might have something to do with me, in a way" Kanoko said, "But we don't have time to point fingers. I need these girls up and fighting."

"I understand that kunoichi are important in battle, but they are pretty injured," Shizune said, "Don't you think rushing them is kind of cruel?

"I, too, would love to engage in this exciting battle, but our friends are not in any condition to fight," Rock Lee said.

Kanoko sighed. She put her hands together and released some orange chakra into her palms. That chakra was then mixed with her own medical ninjutsu.

"Here, let me help," she placed a hand on both Ino and Sakura's shoulders. After a few seconds, the two jolted up. The irises of their eyes glowed orange as a chakra that they never felt before moved around inside of them. It was stronger than any adrenaline they had ever experienced and the two stood up, immediately ready to fight.

"Okay, Sakura, let's go," Ino said.

"I'm already on it," Sakura said. The flame dragon had disappeared, but the red headed kunoichi summoned two more. Tenten's weapon fell to the ground close to Tenten who was busy fighting the platinum blonde girl with an old sword of her own. Hinata was engaged in a taijutsu battle with the third hooded figure, and did her best to keep up with that kunoichi's fast moves.

"W-what did you do to them?" Shizune said.

"This is amazing, I will aid them in their fight!" Rock Lee said before taking off.

"I infused them with some of my chakra and used advanced medical ninjutsu to heal them as they go," Kanoko said. She didn't even look at Shizune, she only focused on the four young kunoichi and how they utilize their skills.

Sai, Choji and Shikamaru landed after Shikamaru was able to use a few water scrolls to defeat the two other fire dragons. When they landed, Choji and Shikamaru ran toward Sakura.

"Okay, Sakura," Choji said, as he approached her, "There are more of those hooded girls coming, are you ready to try our techni-whoa, what happened to your eyes?"

Choji was right, more hooded kunoichi appeared to fight them. Sakura could sense their individual chakra and could tell that they were from many different nations. The thought of Kichiro brainwashing so many different kunoichi enraged her, yet she still wanted to defeat them. To Sakura's own horror, she wanted to crush all of the hooded kunoichi as soon as possible.

"Sakura," Lady Kanoko called out to her, sensing her rage, "Be careful. The goal is only to subdue them."

Several hooded young women rushed toward Sakura, Shikamaru and Choji. The three used a tamer version of their ball-and-chain technique to knock the kunoichi out, but they missed the red haired one.

Ino ran to an open area and stood with her eyes closed. She placed a hand on either side of her head and focused on the mental energy of the hooded kunoichi approaching her.

"One...two...three...ten... I can handle ten of them," Ino said to herself. Something told her that she should take on more, but she resisted that urge. She used a Yamanaka clan jutsu to knock ten of the surrounding hooded kunoichi unconscious, but in doing so, Ino used a large portion of chakra. She fell to her knees and placed a hand on her chest. The other hooded kunoichi who had avoided that attack headed for her comrades.

"I'm feeling a little better, I think I should go help out," Shizune said. She and Lady Kanoko were far away from the center of the fighting, and the hooded kunoichi showed no interest in engaging with them.

"No," Kanoko responded, "This is their battle and they can only grow stronger if they do this on their own. And also, we need to focus on the enemies' every move so that we can submit a full report to the Hokage."

Shizune was about to protest, but she sighed instead. Despite Kanoko's words she didn't completely give up on the idea of helping.

Just when the Leaf ninja gained an advantage over their foes, the red haired ninja created many shadow clones. Because Kanoko had infused Ino with her chakra, Ino recovered from using her jutsu quickly and ran to back up Tenten who was engaged in a sword fight with the platinum blonde kunoichi.

"Ino, quick, grab my weapon," Tenten said. Ino dodged a few attacks to grab the large weapon which had absorbed some of the fire of the flame dragons.

"Ah, it's hot!" Ino said.

"Yeah, but it won't burn you," Tenten said, "Just swing it around near some of those clones."

Ino swung the weapon, and a wall of flames wiped out some of the clones. Sai, Shikamaru, and Choji fought off some shadow clones as well, while Rock Lee and Hinata fought the kunoichi who was skilled in taijutsu. At one point, Hinata kicked her so hard that she flew back and her hood came off. They saw that she was a young kunoichi with dark purple hair and a scar on her right cheek.

"Great job, Hinata!" Rock Lee said. Hinata smiled, and thought about how much she had improved as a kunoichi.

The purple haired kunoichi glared at them, but then her expression changed, and her mouth curled into a menacing smile.

Kanoko's body began to shake as she sensed a powerful jutsu coming. Shizune looked up at her as beads of sweat formed on Kanoko's forehead.

"There's something...happening," Lady Katsuyu said.

In the midst of the fighting, Shikamaru turned and saw that the kunoichi in white had arrived.

"Stop this nonsense," she said. While everyone else turned to face her, Sakura rushed at her from the side.

"Get out of here!" Sakura yelled, as she went to punch the kunoichi in white. The kunoichi grabbed her fist, and crushed it which caused Sakura to fall and scream out in agony. Ino aimed the weapon at the kunoichi, but the white kunoichi dodged her attack. Both Kanoko and Shizune moved to protect the younger Leaf ninja, but they realized that they couldn't run. The kunoichi in white had used a jutsu to slow everyone else's movements down, which then allowed her to move around them easily.

"I've been watching you all battle, you're not as untalented as I expected you to be," she said, "But this little game is getting tiring. It's time for me to pick one of you to add to my collection."

She grabbed the fallen Sakura by her hair and yanked her up. Sakura could not bare to look at her comrades, so she grit her teeth and looked down.

"Not so fast," Shikamaru said. He had managed to form a shadow barrier around himself before the full effect of the slowing jutsu hit him. He also had captured the red haired kunoichi with his shadow paralysis jutsu. Because he had used two jutsu so quickly, he was weakened, but determined not to let the kunoichi he trapped slip away.

"Ah, I see you've captured our beloved Yumi," the kunoichi in white said, "Well, as useful as she's been, I can't say we really need her anymore. Of course, that doesn't mean you should have her either."

The kunoichi in white threw several kunai with the intention of killing Yumi, the red haired kunoichi. Kanoko was able to break the jutsu's power and free everyone else simultaneously, but it was too late.

In just a few seconds, several events took place. Shikamaru used his jutsu to make Yumi dodge the kunai attack, but Choji was hit in the shoulder. Kanoko used a long range wind attack to strike the kunoichi in white. The kunoichi in white then loosened her grip on Sakura and Sakura escaped. When Sakura dodged, Rock Lee and Hinata moved in to attack the kunoichi in white who grabbed Hinata and kicked Rock Lee.

"She'll have to do for now!" the kunoichi in white said with her arm on Hinata's neck. Immediately after she said this, they all heard a loud blast which was accompanied by a huge cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the Leaf ninja saw that all of the enemy kunoichi except Yumi were gone and the kunoichi in white had disappeared with Hinata.

"Damn it," Sakura said before she struck the ground in anger.

"Hinata..." Ino whisper, clinging to the weapon. Tears formed in her eyes, and the rest of their comrades looked at one another for some form of reassurance.

"Sai, see if they fled to the surrounding area," Shizune said. Sai used his super beast scroll to create another bird and fly around the village. During the smoke attack, Yumi was struck in the stomach with a blade and she slumped on the ground as blood and tears rushed out of her. Katsuyu decided to use her last bit of energy to assist Yumi and Choji.

"I...I'm so sorry about your friend," Kanoko said.

"Why are you here?" Sakura said, "That kunoichi, her chakra...that chakra you gave me just a while ago...it's so similar. It's like yours. Why is that?"

Kanoko closed her eyes. She said that she was only there to help and that she had learned several new things about their enemies that would benefit the Leaf.

"I didn't cause this attack, dear," Kanoko said, "I am an ally. I want what's best for the Leaf, just as you do."

Sakura just shook her head. She got up and walked away from all of them, but was stopped by Ino.

"Wait," Ino said, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check on the villagers, I have a feeling Hinata wasn't the only one who was abducted."

After the group of ninja had recovered from the initial shock of what they had witnessed, they headed back toward the stadium in the village's square. Many parents cried for their kidnapped daughters, and Sakura helped organize medical efforts to treat the wounded with Rock Lee's assistance. Choji, Shikamaru and Tenten kept an injured Yumi far away from the crowd as Katsuyu worked on her. Ino stood with her arms crossed in the corner of the square and listened to Shizune and Kanoko whisper an argument.

"Shizune, you have to believe me," Kanoko said, "I am not behind this."

"Well, based on what I've found and what Sakura has said, I'd say you are at least a top suspect. Lady Tsunade will think so, too."

Kanoko sighed. She almost regretted doing a book signing in the Leaf village. When Kanoko was about to tell Shizune what she discovered, the Leaf Anbu were approaching.

"I know something about Kichiro...I know him," Kanoko said, "I'm going to tell you this so that your mind may rest, but please let me be the one to tell Tsunade myself."

"What?" Shizune said, "What is it?"

"This 'Lord Kichiro'...his chakra is identical to my husband's chakra."

"What? But...your husband. I-I thought he died in battle years ago..."

"I thought so, too, but that clone of him that was here, it was definitely recently made of his chakra. Listen, before my husband died, I used a lot of my chakra to treat his wounds. That's why-"

Sadly, Kanoko could say no more on the issue. The Anbu approached them and their presence drew the interest of everyone in the square.

"Lady Kanoko Nishi, by order of the Hokage of the Land of Fire, you are under arrest for conspiring against the Leaf village."

Ino had managed to subtly hide from plain view, and she had heard the last words Kanoko said. To solve the mystery of Kichiro and rescue Hinata, Ino determined to work with the Leaf's intel division, although it wouldn't be easy.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Injured, The Agitated, and The Unstable

"I've told you a hundred times, I know nothing else about the Sharingan," Neji said.

Naruto had kept Neji company over the last few days, but Neji had grown tired of his constant questions.

"Oh, c'mon no need to be so crabby," Naruto said, "I was just asking a question."

Although Neji was irritated, he knew that Naruto was well meaning and simply wanted to figure out a way to complete his most important mission.

"If you are going to save Sasuke, you're going to need more than knowledge of the Sharingan," Neji said.

Naruto lowered his eyes. He slumped down in the chair near Neji's bed.

"I know...I just thought because you're so smart and all," Naruto said.

"Did someone say 'smart'?" Shikamaru slid the door open and Naruto's face lit up. Shikamaru hadn't slept well, but he knew he had to talk to them before he could go home to rest. He dragged himself inside of the room slowly, trying to play off the fact that his body was overworked during the last mission.

"Hey, you're back!" Naruto said, "It took you long enough, you guys have been gone for almost a week."

"Yeah, well a lot's happened," Shikamaru sighed, "There's something that I want you two to know. You're going to want to sit back for this one."

Neji and Naruto looked at each other. They were anxious to hear what Shikamaru had to tell them, but before Shikamaru could begin to tell them about the unfortunate events of the mission, they heard a girl shriek from a room upstairs. There was a crashing sound and footsteps running toward the direction of the noise.

"Ugh, great," Shikamaru said, "She's awake."

Before Kakashi heard the news, he was having a pretty pleasant day. He had a quick competition with his so called rival, Might Guy before he finished reading through his favorite novel for the fifteenth time. He didn't plan on going to the Hokage's office that day, but when he encountered Sakura, Ino and Tenten he knew he had to talk to Lady Tsunade as soon as possible.

When he met the three kunoichi, they had just come from speaking with Tsunade and he noticed that they looked very defeated. He also noticed that while Ino and Tenten were speaking to each other, Sakura was walking behind them and she looked the most upset.

"Good Afternoon, the three of you look pretty tired, are you sure you should be strolling around like that?" he said.

"Hah, haven't seen you and several days and the first thing you mention is how bad we look," Sakura said.

"No, no, I-I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"It's okay, Sakura, he's right, we look pretty messed up," Tenten said, "Maybe we should swing by the hospital like Lady Tsunade said. Just to be safe."

"It's fine, I can work on healing myself at home," Sakura said, before saying goodbye to all of them. In that short period of time, Kakashi noticed that Sakura's eyes looked different than they had before. Her pupils were a lot larger and she had what looked like orange-ish gold specks in her irises. He saw something similar in Ino's eyes, but the change in Ino's eyes was less noticeable.

"Oh, well, I hope she rests up," Kakashi said, "I take it everyone else already went home too?"

"Well..." Tenten said, about to share the news about Hinata. Ino interrupted her to tell Kakashi that all was well.

"Yeah, of course, everyone else just went home first, no big deal or anything," Ino laughed nervously, "Anyway, Tenten and I are late for...um, something, let's go Tenten, we don't want to keep, um, you know who, waiting haha, bye Kakashi-sensei!"

Ino took Tenten's wrist and pulled Tenten away.

_Now that was strange_, Kakashi thought. That was when he decided to visit the Hokage, and learned something even stranger. When he arrived outside of the Hokage's office, Shizune was just leaving the building.

"Oh, hi!" Shizune said. He could tell that she was also fatigued from the mission, but he knew better than to tell her that she looked tired.

"Good afternoon, is Lady Hokage available?"

"For most people, no, but I'm sure she'd make an exception for you," Shizune said, "I have to run, but she can fill you in on the Kichiro case. Oh, and she's making marriage jokes again so be ready for that, and she's a little...well, you'll see for yourself."

They parted ways and Kakashi knocked on Tsunade's door.

"What? You didn't want to come through the window today?" Tsunade said. She allowed him to enter the room and Kakashi immediately noted that her face was flushed.

"Lady Hokage!" Kakashi said with an unusual amount of surprise.

"I just had one drink relax."

"One?"

"One...more...than a few," Tsunade said, "Anyway, it's highly inappropriate to be talking about something like this...What do you want?"

She flipped through one of the books Shizune had bought from downstairs as he spoke.

"Well, I just spoke to the girls and I was wondering how their mission wen-"

"Kakashi," Tsunade said in a voice that almost made her sound sober, "If you had to pick...Yamato or Iruka?"

"Um, what do you mean?"

"Come on, play along, you know them both pretty well."

"I, um, I don't know what this is about."

Tsunade looked over at several photos on her desk.

"Hmmm, maybe Raido...I think he and Shizune would be a decent pair."

_Oh, right, marriage jokes,_ Kakashi thought.

"Lady Hokage," he laughed nervously, "Perhaps it's not the best idea to play matchmaker right now. I don't think either of us have the power to-"

"Ugh, damn!" Tsunade said.

This time when she slammed her hand on the desk, she left a large crack where her fist hit. Kakashi could see that she had been masking her frustration with a fake nonchalance and, of course, alcohol.

Tsunade shared with Kakashi the news of Kanoko's arrest, Hinata's capture, the medical treatment of mysterious "Yumi" and the reveal of Kichiro's true identity. Tsunade also stated that she was most anxious about what they would find in Kanoko's mind.

"If the shinobi in the intel division find out that Kanoko was not involved in Kichiro's evil plot at all, then I worry she will retaliate for sure," Tsunade said, "She would have every reason to, especially if the news of her arrest affects her fanbase and her book sales. She'd never forgive me. _I _would never forgive me."

"Lady Hokage," Kakashi said, "I understand that you're under a lot of pressure right now. As the number of missions start to increase, it might be difficult for you to keep track of the Kichiro case. That's why I'm requesting that you let me take a more central role in bringing him down."

Tsunade sat back and stared at Kakashi. She was surprised for a second, but quickly thought the idea over.

"It would be helpful to have you take a more active role, especially when it comes to helping out with the girls..." Tsunade said. Eventually, she agreed to Kakashi's request.

"I was also wondering if I could have your permission to speak to Lady Kanoko. I want to learn more about this recent mission from her perspective," Kakashi said.

"Go check in with intel and if it's all right with them then please feel free to speak with her."

Kakashi thanked her and turned to leave, but she stopped him to make one more comment.

"Kakashi...be careful," Tsunade said, "That woman can pull things out of you that could send you to a dark place. Don't fall into her trap."

Kakashi promised he wouldn't.

When Kakashi arrived at the intel headquarters, Ibiki had just taken a break from interrogating Kanoko. Ibiki walked passed Kakashi grumbling to himself, while Inoichi greeted Kakashi and filled him in.

"We learned a lot, but we didn't find anything that would link her to Kichiro, at least not yet," Inoichi said, "She's in the back room. She's a difficult one to crack, but I trust that you'll get some useful information without complicating our interrogation. I have to step out, but I'll be back soon."

Inoichi guided him to Kanoko and left them to talk. Kakashi was surprised to find Lady Kanoko looking distant and disheveled. Kakashi greeted her respectfully, but she didn't respond. He sat across from her at the large, gray table in the center of the room.

"Did Tsuna send you?" Kanoko eventually whispered.

"No, not really. I requested to see you for my own reasons," Kakashi said, "I wanted to ask you about your powers. Your chakra."

Kanoko stared at him with golden eyes, similar to Sakura and Ino's.

"Ask whatever questions you want. I will be honest with you since you are the child of my old friend, the White Fang," Kanoko said.

"You knew my father?"

"Of course, and I admired him deeply. His modest nature and his commitment to never giving up on his friends...no matter what."

She said the last part of the sentence through a tight smile. Kakashi was no longer looking at what was once the graceful, elegant Kanoko. Instead, he saw a woman who was trying to suppressing her aggression and was slowly becoming more wildlike in the process.

Kanoko explained to him that she only had a fraction of the chakra power that she used to have, but held no bitterness toward the Third Hokage for sealing her power. She also said that her chakra could be amplified by both positive and negative emotions. The desire to protect a friend can boost her power, just as the desire to kill an enemy can. When Kakashi asked why she shared her chakra with the girls, she said it was for medical purposes, but he didn't believe her.

"If I remember correctly, you're a skilled kunoichi, you could have taken most of those young enemy kunoichi down on your own without getting the girls involved," Kakashi said, "Why did you make them fight when they didn't have to?"

Kanoko laughed. Kakashi could hear the bitterness in her voice when she spoke again.

"Kakashi...shinobi must be pushed to their limits in order to grow, you know that," Kanoko said, "I want these girls to feel empowered. Sensei can't just go running to save them every time a mission gets hard."

"With all due respect, Lady Kanoko, you are not their sensei," he said.

"And you are sensei to one of them and what exactly have you done to help make her stronger? Tsunade told me about how she trained Sakura for those years. It's because of Tsunade's efforts that Sakura has grown as much as she has, not yours. That's all I want to do, make them stronger because the world isn't going to treat them nicely just because they're girls!" Kanoko practically yelled the last part of her sentence.

Kakashi shut his eyes to think. When he came up with a plan he looked at Kanoko.

"I don't fully understand your vision, but I'm willing to try if you are cleared after your interrogation. I want to work with you to prepare these girls to take down Kichiro and get Hinata back. I have a few requests before we work together if you do choose to accept them and if you are cleared as a suspect."

"Go on, let me hear them," Kanoko said, slowly reverting back to her more elegant self. The gold specks danced around in her eyes.

"One, you remain in the Leaf Village until Kichiro is defeated so that the Hokage can keep an eye on you, two, you join me in training the three kunoichi when they are not on missions, and three, demonstrate to me one of your greatest powers."

"Demonstrate my power? Why, so you can copy me?" Kanoko asked.

Kakashi hid a smile under his mask.

"Something like that," he said.

"Now?"

"After the interrogation, we can meet to-"

There was a loud crash outside.

"What, are you crazy? We're just trying to help!" Kakashi could hear Naruto say.

"I don't need your help! I must return to my master!" Kanoko sensed the girl they brought back from the mission was causing trouble outside.

Kakashi jumped up to leave the room, and Kanoko followed him. Before they could leave, a younger guard stopped them at the door.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to exit the building," he said to her, "Lady Hokage has ordered that we keep you here until the entire interrogation process is over."

"Try to stop me if you want, but I must get out there," Kanoko said to the young guard. Luckily, it didn't take Kakashi and Kanoko long to overpowered him and the other two guards that came running to stop them. Once outside, they got a view of the action.

The captured follower of Kichiro, Yumi had escaped the hospital and was jumping from building to building to get away from Naruto. Kakashi and Kanoko ran to keep up with them as they zoomed through the village. They were later followed by Shikamaru who was pushing an injured Neji in a wheelchair.

Neji used his Byakugan to study Yumi's unusual chakra signature and reported what he saw to Shikamaru. Shikamaru was trying to decide if and how they should get involved with the struggle between Yumi and Naruto, but he slowed down when he saw Sakura who was later chased by Ino.

"Sakura and Ino..." Neji said, "Their chakra is different as well..."

Eventually, Yumi used her shadow clones to escape Naruto, but she did not expect him to use his as well. After several of their clones fought, Naruto cornered Yumi back on the ground.

"You can't just go running around the village like this, you have to come back to the hospital," Naruto said.

Yumi used an ice based jutsu to put a wall between herself and Naruto in order to buy herself some time to think of a plan.

Not too far away, Kanoko and Kakashi stopped to observe what they would do next. Soon, Sakura came charging toward Yumi and Naruto from the opposite direction. Kakashi and Kanoko sensed Sakura's chakra was different, but they didn't intervene.

"We don't have time for this!" Sakura rushed at the ice wall and shattered it with one powerful punch. Not only had the ice been broken, but the pavement beneath them split and Naruto was sent flying backward.

"You again," Yumi said when she saw Sakura, "Don't you have any other tricks?"

She then rushed into a hand to hand battle with Sakura, and she was surprised to see that Sakura could keep up with her movement. Yumi was strong, but her hits were not as powerful as Sakura's. Even so, she was better at hand to hand combat and could avoid most of Sakura's hardest punches. Naruto got back up to join in, but Kanoko instructed him to stay away. Yumi and Sakura's fight gradually moved away from Naruto, Kanoko and Kakashi and into a nearby street.

Although Sakura could not tell immediately, Yumi was slowly absorbing her chakra with every punch being thrown. When Yumi saw an opening, she kicked Sakura far down the street which caused many villagers to run off. Sakura stood back up immediately, ready to fight. The effort of the kick took a lot out of Yumi, but Yumi prepared herself to continue the battle.

"You Leaf scum...you don't know when to quit do you?" Yumi said in a low, menacing voice. When she regained her composure, Yumi charged at Sakura while weaving complex hand signs.

"Earth Style: Striking Boulder!" Yumi shouted. Large tumbling rock came at Sakura from her left and slammed Sakura into a nearby building.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled, trying to catch up and rejoin the fight.

"Shadow possession jutsu!" Shikamaru said. He stood further behind him with Neji at his side.

"Sorry, Naruto, but Ino just requested that we make some room for her," Shikamaru said. Neji rolled his wheelchair a bit closer to the fight to report that both Sakura and Yumi's chakra was moving around erratically.

Neji was seeing the effects of Sakura's anger mixing with the chakra Kanoko infused her with. At the same time, Yumi began to unlock the chakra inside herself that Kichiro had sealed. The two powered up and began exchanging powerful blows. Sakura slammed Yumi into a side of a building several times, but Yumi soon gained the fighting advantage.

She kicked Sakura up into the air, and jumped up just in time to bodyslam Sakura into the ground. Yumi's sealed chakra was giving her a dangerous level of strength and she used it to swing at Sakura again. Sakura could feel the untamed chakra moving around in herself, and she wanted to destroy Yumi in that moment. Sakura managed to jump up and back, but before she could charge, she heard Ino.

"It's time to put your ass back in the hospital!" Ino jumped from a roof and flipped forward and down. She used her mind targeting jutsu to quickly bring herself closer to Yumi and deliver a perfectly aimed kick to the head. The high speed kick forced Yumi's head into the ground, knocking her unconscious.

"Nice one, Ino!" Shikamaru said. He released Naruto who ran to aid Sakura. Kakashi and Kanoko had reached them in time to see Ino's perfectly timed kick and they commended Ino on her strategy.

While all the attention was on Ino, Sakura's blood boiled. She knew that she could have defeated Yumi and that she had done all of the hard work in the fight, not Ino. Because the chakra Sakura received from Kanoko was amplified by strong emotion Sakura could not power herself down. The chakra burned inside her body, and she began to choke. Everyone else mistook her choking as a sign of injury and tried to help her calm herself.

"I can't, I can't brea-" Sakura tried her best to talk, but was taken over by the power of the strange chakra.

Ino's celebration was halted, and she quickly tried to help Sakura regain control of her body. Because the power of the orange chakra was fueled by her jealousy of Ino's praise and her anger at Yumi, Sakura pushed Ino harder than she intended to, which caused Ino to fly back. Luckily, Kakashi caught Ino before she collided into a wall. That moved released some of Sakura's negative energy, and she could breathe better.

"Oh, no," Kanoko said as she examined the recovering Sakura, "My chakra, your body can't handle it."

"What should we do?" Kakashi said. Kanoko gave Sakura a sad look.

"Take Sakura to the hospital along with Kichiro's student. They both need treatment as soon as possible. It looks like I'm going to be in bigger trouble than I thought, but at least they'll be safe there."

As everyone cleared out, Neji watched the scene with his activated Byakugan. He made a comment to Shikamaru that made Shikamaru's eyes widen.

"I'm very concerned about what you said just before this about Lady Hinata," Neji said, "But I am confident that it will be easier for us to get her back than it will be for us to keep Sakura. Something just broke in Sakura's chakra network. I fear something terrible is about to happen to her. Maybe to us. And I don't know if even medical ninjutsu will be able to fix it."

Unfortunately, they would soon learn that Neji was right.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: The Goddess Theory

It had been two weeks since Yumi had attempted to escape the village and return to her master Kichiro. During those weeks, she spent most of her time in and out of consciousness. She dreamed of fulfilling her master's wish and also of becoming the most honored of his kunoichi. When she was conscious, Yumi was pained to think about how the other kunoichi who served Kichiro were out collecting the sacred treasures they needed to perform the grand ritual which would require the Nishi clan's power. The thought of Kichiro's other kunoichi progressing while she was stuck in the Hidden Leaf angered Yumi, but there was something else that rivaled that anger. During Yumi's fight with Sakura, they had exchanged the mysterious chakra and, as a result, could experience each others' emotions and even some memories.

By absorbing Sakura's chakra, Yumi had not only also absorbed Sakura's sadness about Sasuke, but Yumi also began to miss people from her past who she had tried her best to forget.

In a room on the floor above Yumi, Sakura struggled with feelings of intense anger and hatred that she had never felt before. Through the chakra exchange, Sakura had adopted Yumi's anger and felt a stronger resentment toward Ino.

Sakura tried to remind herself of how much she really cared for Ino, but the anger was altering her consciousness and personality at an alarming rate. Her rage caused her to attack a medical nin at one point, and to prevent another attack, the medical staff decided to strap Sakura to her bed. Unfortunately, that had only made her anger worse.

Lady Tsunade was very busy, so she had instructed Shizune to stay close to the hospital to keep an eye on Yumi and Sakura. During this time, Shizune also reviewed her plan to rescue Hinata and collect intel on the enemy. Before they had entered the battle village, Hinata and Shizune discussed a secret plan that would involve using a Hyuga clan Hidden Jutsu. Hinata had convinced Shizune to allow her to trade places with any Leaf kunoichi that Kichiro might have captured during the last fight so that Hinata could use that special jutsu.

The jutsu would allow Hinata to subtly use the power of the Byakugan while in an unconscious state to read the chakra of whoever touched her. Hinata had practiced the technique with Neji, and though she had not mastered it, she was willing to use it to bring down Kichiro.

Because Shizune wanted to be cautious, Shizune also used a jutsu that would protect Hinata's chakra network from being tampered with. Shizune's jutsu was specifically for stabilizing people who were in a coma, but she had made some adjustments for Hinata's sake. Shizune put a small medical tag on Hinata that would prolong the jutsu's effects in order to buy them time to execute the rescue plan. They only had about one week to get Hinata back before the power of the jutsu wore off and that was worrying Shizune more than anything else.

Luckily, Kakashi agreed to help Shizune execute her rescue plan when the time was right. He sat under a tree on a training field and read the latest notebooks Kichiro had abandoned while Ino and Tenten spared on the field. He was picking up on the fact that Kichiro was collecting less kunoichi and had recently turned his attention to objects. Many of the clues Kichiro left hinted that Kichiro's next location was likely a temple.

As they spared, Ino and Tenten glanced over at Kakashi from time to time.

"You know, I have this theory..." Tenten said as she dodge Ino's hand. Their sparing had become more like a dance and they were able to predict each others moves without much thought.

"Oh, yeah?" Ino said, "What's it about?"

"This Kichiro guy, the way he leaves these hints are just weird. It's like he wants to be found out. But why? Why not stay hidden until you have an army powerful enough to attack and defeat your enemies quickly?"

Ino thought for a moment. She hadn't been able to get much information out of her dad about Kanoko's interrogation, Inoichi only told Ino that Kanoko was no longer in trouble with the Leaf's higher-ups. Kanoko had returned to the intel division after Yumi and Sakura's fight and was cleared to roam the village after a few days, but she was also asked not to exit the village for a while.

"He's probably doing all of this to taunt Lady Kanoko," Ino said, "I mean they were apparently married before he turned evil."

"Yeah, I heard she thought he was dead...but anyway, back to my theory...I think there's some otherworldly stuff going on here."

"Oookay, and what do you mean by that?" Ino said. Tenten didn't answer immediately. She took several quick steps back to break the patterns in her movements. Despite Tenten's attempt to throw Ino off, Ino quickly readjusted and the two went back to using the same moves against each other.

"Ha! You're getting faster!" Tenten said.

"Don't change the subject, what's the big theory you're working on?"

"I've been doing some research at the library lately into the Nishi clan, and their unusual chakra absorption power. Apparently, the Nishi clan was one of the strongest clan's in Konoha, and many of the clan members are of Senju and Yamanaka bloodlines, which made them super elite. I thought it was weird that a clan with that much power was allowed to roam the world like they do."

"Well, from the little bit of information my dad did give me, pretty much all of the people in the Nishi clan are constantly on missions. They still have to come back here every once in a while to check in or they'd be in trouble. They're a small clan anyway so they probably want to avoid confrontations."

"But still," Tenten said, "Lady Kanoko's chakra is so unique, it seems to have this influential power over whoever comes in contact with it. Even now, I can sense it in you as we're sparring."

Ino froze. Her eyes widened and she took a step back from Tenten.

"What do you mean you sense it?" Ino said. Tenten stared into Ino's eyes. Even though the gold color had faded from them, Tenten could tell something in Ino was still linked with Kanoko's chakra.

"Oh, I didn't mean it as an insult, I'm just trying to say this influential power is like nothing we've ever seen before, I mean it's basically alien and no one is talking about-"

"Stop!"

"I just-"

"No seriously, stop," Ino's voice dropped to a whisper, "She's coming."

The young kunoichi stood silently and watched the edge of the field. Seconds passed and Kanoko Nishi appeared. She waved at the girls from afar and gracefully made her way toward them.

"Maybe this isn't the best time to talk about it," Tenten whispered to Ino, "But when I was doing research I found some things that might suggest that the Nishi clan's power is connected to some sort of inhuman energy."

"What?" Ino said, trying not to look too surprised.

"After we leave, I need you to come with me. You have some of her power, maybe you can see if anything we read sounds like something you're experiencing," Tenten said.

Ino did not bother to respond because she did not want to risk Kanoko overhearing what they were talking about as Kanoko approached.

"Good morning, ladies," Kanoko said. She was well-rested and her orange hair was in one long braid that she flipped over her left shoulder. Tenten noticed that Kanoko's usual hazel eyes had a more goldish tint to them.

"Good morning," the two said simultaneously. Kakashi looked up from a notebook he was studying and observed their conversation. He could tell that Ino and Tenten were slowly trying to move away from Lady Kanoko for some reason. He decided to help them out.

"Hello, Lady Kanoko, I've been meaning to speak with you about something," Kakashi said.

"Oh?" Kanoko said, in her playful tone, "Is this going to be a one-on-one conversation?"

"Yes, ma'am, I think this should be a conversation just between us," he said, "And ladies, I think it's time you took a break. Maybe go read up on Lady Kanoko's guide notes from earlier this week. You seem to be improving tremendously, but you need to rest your bodies."

Tenten and Ino nodded and walked away. They whispered to each other about research until they were no longer in view. Little did they know, Kakashi had already began to unravel the mystery behind Kichiro. He would need Lady Kanoko's knowledge, but he still did not trust her enough to completely involve her in the process.

"How may I help you, Kakashi?" she said as she sat on the ground next to him.

"I just wanted to ask you about some of the places your clan frequently visits," Kakashi said, "I think Kichiro might be heading to one of those spots next."

Kanoko mentioned a few places that she thought of immediately and Kakashi showed her the latest notebooks he had been working to decipher. What he didn't tell her was that he noticed several fingernail dent marks that formed characters on a few pages. Although the writing said one thing, the dent marks seemed to form characters that made up some kind of secret message.

Kakashi only drew Kanoko's attention to the symbols written with ink and he then asked if her clan had a meeting point in the land toward the east. Kanoko blinked a few times and Kakashi could see that her eyes became noticeably more gold. For some reason, the sudden change in her eyes made him uneasy.

"Yes, we do actually, it's just outside the Village of Bamboo," Kanoko said, "You think Kichiro will be going there next?"

"Yes, and I think we should make plans to meet him and his band of kunoichi there."

"But wouldn't that be a trap?" Kanoko said.

"If we're well prepared, we'll be the ones trapping them," Kakashi replied. Kanoko did not say much else, but she remained seated for a few minutes. Kakashi observed that her hair had grown slightly darker since he had last seen her, and her face was very mildly discolored. Most significantly, he noticed a mark on her neck which looked like a small burn.

When Kanoko excused herself, Kakashi sighed. During his time in the Anbu, he had either visited or heard of all of the Nishi clan's meeting places outside of the Leaf. He knew there was no meeting place near the Bamboo Village. As he stood up to head back to the center of the village, he had two things on his mind: his next meal and the elimination of Kanoko Nishi.

During the following days, Sakura showed signs of tremendous improvement. She was able to join a few of the kunoichi training sessions with Kakashi and Kanoko, and most of the orange chakra seem to have faded from her. After Yumi had been released from her last interrogation session, Lady Tsunade assigned guards to escort Yumi around the village.

After one training session, Sakura, Ino and Tenten were surprised to spot Yumi on their walk home. Sakura, who had been unusually quiet, scowled at Yumi. Yumi saw Sakura's expression and smiled wearily. The sight of Yumi's smile caused Sakura to storm off.

"Hey, where are you going?" Ino called to Sakura.

"Home, where else? I'm starving."

Tenten and Ino watched Sakura stomp down the walking path and they looked back at Yumi who lowered her eyes before walking away.

"Hm, her smile was cute, but also kind of...strange," Ino said, "Like, she was definitely evil when we met her, but she looks so sad now."

"Hey, we don't have time to worry about that," Tenten said, "Shizune says we're leaving later today for Operation: Get Hinata Back, but I think we need to tell Kakashi sensei about what we've been looking into. It's been hard to talk to him because he's been around Lady Kanoko a lot."

"Yeah, but isn't that him all the way over there reading?" Ino said.

Ino pointed to Kakashi who was reading a book on a bench farther down the path near a few shops.

"There's no guarantee Lady Kanoko won't show up soon and see us, what should we do?"

"We should do one of the things I do best," Ino said with a smile. Tenten understood.

They got closer and hid themselves among a crowd of people. Ino used her Mind Transfer Jutsu to transfer her consciousness into Kakashi's mind in order to speak with him. Tenten pulled Ino's unconscious body out of view and held it up with her arm as Ino started to convey her message to Kakashi.

"_Kakashi sensei, it's me, Ino." _

"_Ino? What? Is something wrong?"_

"_No, well, yes...but...Anyway, Tenten and I have been doing some research on Lady Kanoko."_

"_You two should be careful with that, I'm working on handling this situation."_

"_I know, I know, but we were thinking about how her chakra was unusual. When I first encountered her in my family's shop I was instantly afraid of what was coming from inside her."_

"_Unfortunately, I do know what you mean. I'm concerned about what her chakra has done to you and Sakura and I wouldn't be surprised if she is actually working for the enemy. Don't worry, I've got this."_

"_Sensei, there's something you should know. When Tenten and I fought Kichiro's minions, one of Tenten's weapons absorbed the chakra from the enemy's fire attack. When Tenten put the weapon back in the scroll she couldn't summon it to use it later. In fact, part of the scroll was burned. That made her start to think about how such a strong and unusual chakra came to be."_

"_I'm not sure where you're going with this, Ino, but you do have my attention. Go on."_

"_She looked into the Nishi clan history in the library, but there wasn't much there. So then she looked into chakra absorption and manipulation techniques, but nothing she read explained the chakra manipulation powers that both Lady Kanoko and Kichiro have. Tenten kept thinking about how "unreal" their abilities seemed then she suddenly got an idea. When I studied with her, she had the thought to look into the fiction and myth section and we search for hours until we found a reference to the story of Rakurai."_

"_The Lightning Goddess from children's stories?"_

"_Yes! It was the story where the people attempted to steal Rakurai's powerful chakra so she cut her ties with this world and traveled to a new dimension. There's a similar story about the Goddess of Wind, Goddess of Water, Goddess of Earth."_

"_And the Goddess of Fire?"_

"_That's the thing, Kakashi sensei. There was nothing on the Goddess of Fire. Tenten and I both checked several times. The other Goddesses possessed similar powers of chakra manipulation and absorption, so we assumed that the Goddess of Fire can do the same."_

"_So you're saying...that you think Lady Kanoko is.."_

"_We think she's the Goddess of Fire."_

There was a long pause, and Ino became nervous. Still, she wanted to convince him.

"_And what about Kichiro?" _

"_From what we know about Lady Kanoko's life and her husband's death, we believe that Kichiro might have tricked Lady Kanoko into giving him her chakra."_

"_Ino, I don't know if-"_

"_Sensei, please! That piece of dark chakra in Lady Kanoko is definitely the same dark chakra that is in his minions. Except, in the enemy, the dark element is stronger."_

"_Ino, the Nishi clan all share similar powers, they all can't be the reincarnation of the Goddess of Fire...but...even so she is the strongest and...it is suspicious that there isn't much information to be found on either the clan or the Goddess of Fire. There is likely a link between the clan and the Goddess myth, but we don't have much proof."_

"_I believe Kichiro is doing all of this to drive Lady Kanoko out and take the rest of her chakra to strengthen the power of his kunoichi army. I really believe that Lady Kanoko is mostly good, but I really think he put something dark inside her...I just hope the same thing isn't in me now."_

In that moment, Kakashi got a strange feeling which caused him to accidentally pushed Ino's consciousness out of his mind. He thought of Sakura and got up to go and tell Lady Tsunade that Sakura should not be allowed on missions for some time. As he walked away, he thought over the information Ino gave him. He suddenly remembered that he did once overhear Kichiro's plan to steal Lady Kanoko's power. But, to Kakashi, that whole encounter seemed like a trap set for Kichiro to get Kakashi's chakra by stealing the lightning blade. While Kanoko could have been a victim of Kichiro, Kakashi still couldn't bring himself to believe Kanoko was completely innocent. He decided to simply delay his plans to eliminate her until Kichiro was subdued.

Like Kakashi, Shizune was still suspicious about Kanoko Nishi. She put those concerns aside when she met the squad to depart for the Village of Bamboo that evening. Tenten and Ino were not able to inform Shizune about their theory before they left, but they planned to do so once they returned. What Tenten and Ino didn't know was that the two of them wouldn't be returning to the Hidden Leaf for a while.

The squad of Kakashi, Shizune, Ino and Tenten lead three other squads to the Land of Bamboo. They would reach there just before dawn to find Kichiro, a few of his kunoichi, and to their relief, Hinata would be there as well. Eager to get to the meeting point, none of the leaf ninja stopped long enough to sense that they were being pursued by two other shinobi who were eager to approach the Village of Bamboo as well.

When the Leaf shinobi did encounter Kichiro and his kunoichi, they were shaken by the strength of the power they felt. At the meeting point, there were hundreds and hundreds of stilt like objects in the ground. They also saw the grand temple, as Kakashi predicted they would see. In the center of the temple an orange orb floated and burned bright. That light, Kakashi assumed, was the next object Kichiro wanted to add to his collection.

"Kichiro Hayashi," Shizune said as she took careful steps onto the top of the stilts, "Under the order of the Fifth Hokage, we are here to retrieve the Leaf kunoichi Hinata Hyuga. We expect that you hand her to us willingly. If you do not, we will have no choice but to retrieve her by force."

Kichiro, who had once again resumed the appearance of a young man, stared across at the Leaf shinobi without speaking. Meanwhile, Tenten hoped to catch Hinata's gaze, but Hinata just stared past her, blankly looking into the distance at the trees.

"Retrieve her by force?" Kichiro scoffed, "I admire your bravery."

Little did he know, the real Ino was hiding in the bushes nearby. She used her mind transfer technique to take over the body of one of the kunoichi who was holding onto Hinata. While controlling that kunoichi, Ino tightened the grip on Hinata's arm. In no time, Kakashi and four other jonin scattered from their original positions behind Shizune.

Several Leaf ninja charged at Kichiro's group to provide a distraction that would enable Ino to safely retrieve Hinata and also put the kunoichi under Ino's control in the Leaf's camp.

Many shinobi clashed on the stilts and Ino was able to get directly into the path of a Hidden Leaf ninja who was supposed to knock the kunoichi she transferred into out. Right before the knockout blow, Ino escaped the kunoichi's body and went back into her own. The kunoichi and Hinata were snatched up by the Leaf, which was supposed to give the Leaf the upperhand. Unfortunately, the Leaf shinobi could not have predicted what would happen next.

As the two sides exchanged blows, Kichiro sensed a familiar chakra approaching.

"She's here," he said. He then turned and signaled to his kunoichi to fall back. When his kunoichi disengaged from their battle with the Leaf, Shizune realized that Sakura had arrived.

"What are you doing here?" Shizune said as the fighting calmed. Sakura stepped out from amongst the trees dressed in a travel cloak. She turned her head to look directly at Shizune. There was no light in Sakura's eyes.

"I'm here to help Hinata," Sakura said in an unusually calm voice. Sakura then approached Kichiro calmly.

"Sakura, we have Hinata. You don't need to engage the enemy!" Shizune said.

"This a very delicate situation, Sakura" Kakashi said, "Please, step back."

"It is delicate," Sakura then looked directly at Kichiro as she spoke to everyone, "Us, this land, this world...it's all incredibly fragile. I've often tried my best, and I've wished I could do more. I always wanted to be better...be stronger...I just didn't know how."

Sakura pulled a kunai out from under her cloak. Kakashi tried to think of ways to disarm and pull her back, but he didn't think fast enough. He was too far back to notice the small Nishi clan symbol on the kunai that was in Sakura's hand. Sakura lifted the kunai and infused her chakra. Ino had made her way to the Leaf's side in her real body just in time to hear the last part of Sakura's speech.

"But now...I think I have an idea. I think I know how to become stronger."

Sakura charged the kunai with a large amount of chakra. She turned and sent it with great force into the direction of the orange orb.

"Sakura, no!" Shizune yelled, a little too late. The kunai hit the orb and the orb grew larger. It then morphed into a vortex that began sucking everything in. Sakura moved toward the light as Kichiro and his kunoichi did the same.

Tenten lunged forward to retrieve Sakura with a chain weapon she had summoned during the battle. Ino and a few other Leaf ninja tried to reach and grab Sakura, but Sakura tried to push them away. In turning to do so, she swung Tenten's chains which caused Tenten to fly off the ground and be pulled into the orange vortex. Instinctively, Ino reached out to grab Tenten, but that caused her to be sucked in as well.

"Yukina!" Kichiro yelled to his powerful kunoichi who was covered in white, "Seal it!"

The kunoichi in white weaved hand signs, and the vortex closed slowly.

"Everyone, retreat now!" Kakashi yelled, "Sakura, you too."

Sakura looked at him with a blank expression.

"Sorry, sensei," Sakura said. With that, she turned to Kichiro and nodded. Kakashi felt his stomach drop. Before he could respond, Kichiro and his kunoichi vanished and so did Sakura.

Sakura's disappearance was as sudden as Ino and Tenten's. Both Tenten and Ino awoke to find themselves floating in an orange space with no walls, ceilings, or floors. Several minutes passed, but they could not move their bodies much. Suddenly, they could see a young man approaching in the distance. He was tall with pink hair and green eyes and Ino sensed that his chakra signature was terribly familiar.

"Hey!" he said as he approached, "Who are you and what have you done with my sensei?"

The girls stared at him blankly for a moment as he came at them ready to fight.

"You..." Ino said, "You look just like..."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Putting the Pieces Together

Tsunade stood in her library and flipped through an old picture album full of photos of her and Dan. As she looked at his smiling face, she couldn't help but smile herself. The warmth and hope she used to feel when she was with him lay dormant within her for years, but in that moment, she remembered that old feeling. She wished that flame within her would burn as strong as it once did, but the feeling faded after a few moments.

She glanced over at a bottle of sake that she had been carrying between the library and her office throughout the day. She barely had drunk any since Shizune and the other shinobi left the day before on their rescue mission. They had been gone for over twenty four hours so Tsunade expected them to return at any moment.

Before she sent shinobi on that mission, Tsunade guessed that several of them would at least sustain a few injuries, but she warned them that it was better for them to retreat after a brief clash than to risk losing several comrades in an all-out fight with Kichiro and his followers. She believed that if the Leaf ninja on the mission followed her advice, all would return without serious wounds. She even thought to bet on it.

"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!" Shizune came thumping down the hall. When Shizune reached the doorway, she was out of breath and tears were welling in her eyes. She gripped the doorknob, trying to keep herself steady as she told Lady Tsunade what had happened.

Tsunade could see Shizune's mouth moving, but her mind ignored the words for a few seconds. Once what Shizune was saying started to sink in, Tsunade slammed the picture album in her hand shut.

"That's enough," Tsunade said, "Come in and close the door."

As she walked in, Shizune wiped her tears with her shirt sleeve. She then gently closed the door behind her.

"Between this and the Akatsuki causing more problems, I don't know if we can keep up," Shizune said. Tsunade instructed her to have a seat in a nearby chair. When Shizune had calmed herself, she observed Tsunade pulling a box off of a high shelf on the opposite side of the room. Shizune had not yet gotten around to organizing that section, but clearly Lady Tsunade had been cleaning up on her own. Tsunade took a seat in a chair across from Shizune and opened the box. She began handing Shizune a few photos that were stored inside it.

One of them was a picture of a young Tsunade holding a small child who was wearing a homemade ninja mask.

"Wait, is this..."

"When Kakashi was about two, his father asked me to watch him for a while. I was a kunoichi, not a babysitter, and I didn't care to watch some kid drool on himself all day. But Kakashi was as orderly and independent as a toddler could be, so it wasn't hard to take care of him. I agreed to watch him occasionally after that. I believed he would eventually be a great shinobi...that's why I cut the top of a sock to make him his own little ninja mask."

Tsunade handed her another photo of kid Jiraiya trying to hide in the bushes outside of the women's section of the bathhouse.

"That weirdo..." Tsunade smiled, "I suspected he was peeping so I followed him one day with a camera and got my proof and then I-...I made sure he felt the consequences of his actions."

"You beat him up, didn't you?"

"Ah, the details aren't important," Tsunade waved her hand dismissively.

Tsunade then gave Shizune a photo of Lord Third speaking to a group of children outside of the Academy. Shizune studied the photos.

"These are lovely, but why are you showing them to me?"

"Kanoko was there when all of the photos in this box were taken," Tsunade said "She actually mailed several of these to me. She's even in some of them."

Tsunade gave another photo to Shizune. It was one of Kanoko and Tsunade in their chunin gear. Judging by the picture, Shizune assumed that they had been the best of friends.

"The intel division searched Kanoko's mind thoroughly." Tsunade continued, "I showed Inoichi the photos in this box, and he said that only one of them matched something he saw in Kanoko's mind. The others who saw inside of her mind said the same thing."

Tsunade gave Shizune one more photo. The photo was burned around the edges, but in it everyone was smiling. In the center were Lord Third, Kanoko and Tsunade attending what appeared to be a party. In the background were several familiar faces, including Shizune's uncle Dan, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru. Next to Dan was a man who seemed vaguely familiar to Shizune.

"I had asked Jiraiya to do some investigating at the Nishi clan meeting places. He found this photo at a northern meeting place that had been abandoned for years. It is the only photo that matched Kanoko's memories according to Inoichi."

A chill ran down Shizune's spine as she pieced together the information.

"So, you mean, the Kanoko in our village...isn't the real Kanoko Nishi..."

"Yes and no."

"What?"

"The body is Kanoko's which explains the chakra, the mind, however, isn't fully hers."

"Fully?"

"Years ago, before Orochimaru left the village, he said that the Nishi clan were rumored to be able to bind their souls together for an extended period of time. They used a jutsu similar to a Yamanaka jutsu, but this unique jutsu was said to be more powerful. Of course, now I know that Orochimaru only knew this because of his interest in experimenting."

"So, you're saying that someone has basically kidnapped Lady Kanoko in her own body?"

"I strongly believe so, and based on what Kakashi told me before he left, someone has likely done the same to this Kichiro person. I went back and looked at the notebooks. I think the soul pushed into the subconscious has been sending subtle messages by making scratch marks in these notebooks, the marks just became more obvious recently."

Shizune's head was spinning. That is why they had been so unsure about what to do with Kanoko. Kanoko was a victim trapped inside of her own body. And the man in the back of the photo who was so familiar...his eyes...He had to be Kanoko's late husband, Hiroshi.

"But...who would do something like this?" Shizune asked, "Who _could_ do something like this? I'm guessing they would have to be pretty powerful."

"In the background of that burnt photo are three of Kanoko's sisters...Two have passed away...One mysteriously disappeared...I think we may have our answer."

Shizune sat upright, and let out a deep sigh.

"This is getting more and more complicated," Shizune said.

"Let's hope that we can wrap up this case soon, the Akatsuki are becoming more active and, like you said, we may not be able to keep a close eye on them if we're distracted by Kichiro's band of kunoichi" Tsunade said, "Now, tell me what happened on this mission. In detail. We need to plan our next move as soon as possible."

"Well, who are you?" The pink haired young man said. Ino was too shocked by the familiarity to say anything immediately. Tenten looked at her and then back at the young man.

_It's time to put those kunoichi training skills to use,_ Tenten thought.

"We should be asking you the same thing," Tenten responded. She and Ino were regaining their mobility and Tenten took that opportunity to slightly move into a position that would enable her to jump up and fight in an instant.

The young man studied their Leaf shinobi headbands and then narrowed his eyes.

"Wait...No, there's no way," he said, "You can't be Leaf shinobi, who sent you? Why do you have those headbands?"

"You know, you ask a lot of questions," Tenten said, "Sorry, but we don't have time for an interview."

Suddenly, Tenten jumped forward and removed the kunai that she had swiftly pulled from her pocket. The young man had also drawn his kunai in time and the two clashed, each pressing their kunai against the other's.

_This isn't good,_ Ino thought. Her eyes were glued on the two who had just decided to engage in combat. Although he was only using a small fraction of his power, Tenten could feel the immense strength of her opponent as their weapons were pushed together. Tenten knew she had to create space in order for her to take out her scrolls. As if following a script, both she and the young man jumped back at the same moment.

Tenten quickly removed one of her _kama_ from a scroll. She had recently sharpened the sickle blade of the kama, and she had attached an extra long chain which would help her trap her opponent. She also had two fire scrolls on her upper arm hidden by her sleeves just to make things more interesting.

_Is she really going to take him on? How do I separate them? _Ino thought as the other two rushed at each other.

Tenten had become a lot quicker and was able to wrap her chain around the shoulder of the pink haired young man. The young man then yanked the chained shoulder and she flew toward him fast. They had both planned to strike each other when they were close enough, but changed their minds at the last minute and flipped apart. While he had been infusing his chakra to stabilize himself and walk in the open space, Tenten took advantage of the lack of gravity to float around him and see where she could grab and retrieve her chain to prepare for another attack.

They clashed a few more times, and were moving further away from Ino with each encounter, but neither had sustained any serious damage. Ino figured that he was holding back, but he was actually looking for the ideal opening. The young man soon grabbed the chain of Tenten's kama, yanked her into his range, and kicked her right in the stomach.

Tenten spit blood as she flew far back, and Ino took the opportunity to attack the young man from behind. Ino tried to retrieve a kunai from the pouch on her leg, but then she remembered one of Lady Kanoko's tips. Using the Mind Targeting Jutsu, she swiftly moved behind the young man and slapped a paper bomb on his back.

Naturally, he was surprised by her speed, and before he could decide on his next move, she put a kunai to his neck.

"Kneel," Ino said. The pink haired young man grumbled under his breath, but followed her order. Ino walked in front of him with her kunai pointed at his throat.

"Look, if you're gonna kill me, at least tell me if Kakashi-sensei-"

He was interrupted by Tenten's charging yell. Behind Ino, Tenten swung the blade of the kama which was now burning with the fire from her fire scroll.

"Watch out, Ino!" Tenten said. Ino turned and looked at Tenten who approaching with the intent to strike.

"Tenten, wait!" Ino said.

"Let's see him dodge this!" Tenten said. Ino moved to use the chakra barrier technique that she and Neji developed during their training sessions. When the chakra barrier was activated, Tenten was forced to come to an abrupt stop.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Tenten said, "I just wanted to try this out, that's why I yelled for you to get out of the way."

"What were you going to do, cut and roast him to death?" Ino said. Tenten pouted.

"N-no, I mean, the worse I was going to do was take off an arm, but like, you're good with medical ninjutsu so you could technically put it back on, right?" Tenten tried to laugh off her embarrassment.

Ino turned back to the pink haired man and pointed the kunai at his face.

"We'll be asking the questions now, okay, tough guy," Ino said, "And don't even think about lying because my dad's knows how to read minds and I, um, might be able to do that so don't take that risk, okay?"

The young man looked up at her and said nothing. Ino dissolved the chakra barrier and Tenten moved to stand next to her.

"Man, how did you get him to calm down anyway?" Tenten said as she frowned down at him with her arms crossed.

"Paper bomb to the back," Ino said, "Anyway, there's a reason I stopped you from attacking him. His chakra...I mean, just look at him. Doesn't he look like someone we know?"

Tenten studied his face for a moment. There was something familiar about his appearance, but she wasn't sure what it was.

"Someone we know? Now that you've mentioned it, yes, he does look familiar, but I can't really..."

"Sakura. Doesn't he remind you of Sakura?" Ino said.

"Wow, I know you and Sakura fight a lot, but I don't think it's very nice to say that she looks like a man, Ino."

"No, I-ugh!" Ino shook her head at turned her attention back to him, "You, do you know a Sakura Haruno?"

He looked at her blankly for a few seconds, and then furrowed his brow.

"I don't know anyone with that name," he replied.

"Yes, but you know Kakashi sensei!" Ino pressed.

"He knows Kakashi sensei?" Tenten looked the young man up and down.

"Yes, he does. Maybe he knows something about Lady Kanoko as well."

"Lady Kanoko?" his eyes widened, "You know Lady Kanoko Nishi?"

"We do," Ino said. Without Ino thinking about it, her body sent the orange chakra to the blade of the kunai. The young man looked at her blade with an expression of absolute shock. He knew then that they were not enemies.

"Sakumaru," he said.

"What?" Tenten said.

"I am Sakumaru Haruno of the Village Hidden in the Leaves," he said, "I didn't know you knew of Lady Kanoko, but I see that her chakra flows well in you, so you must be a friend of the Leaf."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten said, "We _are_ from the Leaf."

Ino assessed the situation. She trusted that he was who he said he was, but it took her a second to figure out how that could be.

"Tenten, remember when we were reading about the Goddess of the Five Great Nations? All that stuff about interdimensional travel..."

"You think he's from a different dimension?" Tenten said. Ino nodded.

"Sakumaru, in our village there are three powerful families that famously have worked together for generations," Ino said to him, "What are the names of your generation's shinobi from these families?"

"Inoharu Yamanaka, Chojira Akimichi, and Shikara Nara," he said without hesitation, "And in your village?"

"Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara...and me, Ino Yamanaka."

Tenten gasped. She slapped her palm to her forehead when she realized how oblivious she had been.

"So what are you doing here, Sakumaru?" Tenten asked.

"Please, just call me Saku," he said, "Kakashi sensei, um, our version of Kakashi sensei, kept having these dreams and visions of Lady Kanoko. He didn't tell me the specifics, but he said that they seemed to be from some other place. He started sleepwalking at one point, and a few shinobi had to watch over him, myself included. We thought the dreams had stopped, but one night on a mission he just started sleepwalking again, so I followed him to a temple near the resting spot were we had set up camp. I followed him all the way up the stairs to the temple's entrance, but then there was this bright light and massive gust of wind. And now, we're here."

"Ugh, this situation keeps getting weirder and weirder," Tenten said, "But, I believe you, and now I can see how Ino thinks you look like our friend Sakura. I mean, you don't look _look _like her because she's a girl, and I'm not trying to say you look like a girl or she looks like a guy, but-"

"I think he gets it, hon," Ino said.

"Anyway, we've been doing some research on the Nishi clan and we have this theory that Lady Kanoko is connected to the Goddess of Fire, and there's this bad guy from our world who wants to use her power so that he and his band of kunoichi can take over the world," Tenten continued, "Obviously, we don't want this to happen, so would you by any chance be able to tell us anything you know about Lady Kanoko?"

"But what if their Lady Kanoko and their mythology is different from our own?" Ino asked.

"That's a good point," Tenten said, "So tell us what you know and we'll see what matches up."

The two sat down in front of Sakumaru and listened to his explanation of his world. Most things were identical, except the gender swaps and the fact that Lady Kanoko's kunoichi program started much earlier in Sakumaru's dimension.

"Our generation has a lot of kunoichi, so it was great that Lady Kanoko's program had already been approved by Lord Third back when it was first proposed," Saku said, "But back to what you mentioned about the Goddess of Fire, yes, where I'm from Lady Kanoko is rumored to be a reincarnation of the Goddess."

"I knew it!" Tenten said.

"The Nishi clan are said to be reincarnations of the few people the Goddess actually respected. She gave their original selves some of her chakra and she promised to reappear among them one day if great evil ever arised. It seems as though this man, Kichiro, is trying to gather the weapons necessary to use her power, but..."

"But what?" Ino said.

"He would need the Goddess's tools and all of Lady Kanoko's chakra to unleash the power of the Goddess, but there's a chance that unleashing that much power at once by force could cause massive devastation. Maybe that is this man's goal."

Ino then told him about Kichiro having the chakra of Kanoko's late husband Hiroshi, and she also mentioned the situation with Sakura.

"There's no way that Lord Hiroshi would do something like this, besides he is dead after all. This sounds like Lord Katsu of the Hidden Mist, an admirer of Lady Kanoko who was jealous of Hiroshi. In order for Lord Katsu to bind himself with the consciousness of Hiroshi and disguise himself as Kichiro while also remaining undetected by shinobi, he would need the chakra of someone who is connected to the Goddess of Water. It's possible that this Kichiro isn't just looking to have the power of the Goddess of Fire, he may want all of the Goddesses powers.

"Okay now, my head's _really_ spinning," Tenten said, "I'm glad we got our theory confirmed, but what are we supposed to do now?"

"Train," Saku said, "Ino, if your relationship with Sakura is anything like my relationship with Inoharu, then you are the best person to save Sakura. Which means you'll have to prepare to eventually face her in battle. Tenten, you're skilled with tools like my friend Tenji, it's best if you are familiar with the Goddess of Fire's weapons because you may need to wield them. I'll help you both for as long we're stuck here, but first...could you please get this paper bomb off of my back?"

"Huh?" Ino said "Oh, yeah! Sorry, it's one of the extra sticky ones, too, so this might take a second."

Ino walked behind Sakumaru to remove the paper bomb, but before she could even touch it, a shock of pain shot through her head.

"Aah!" Ino fell to the ground, and Tenten rushed to her side. In that moment, Ino had a vision in which she was linked to the mind of the Lady Kanoko of her world.

"_Stop! Get out of my head!_" Ino could hear Lady Kanoko say. She saw through Kanoko's eyes that Kanoko was walking toward a hide-out guarded by Leaf Anbu in the woods.

"_Don't fight it, sister,_" Ino heard another voice say, "_You should have killed me when you had the chance. Now, I'll be the one to kill you, and I'll do it right after my friend and I absorb all the power Lord Third took from you._"

One of the Anbu noticed Kanoko walking toward them.

"Hey, you can't be here-ah!"

Ino saw Kanoko's hand raise a kunai. She could feel Kanoko's terror and the loss of Kanoko's control over her own body. There was a gush of blood and then a thud. Several screams followed. The vision ended.

"It's-It's her sister," Ino whispered as she shook, "Lady Kanoko's sister is...taking over Lady Kanoko's consciousness. The sister...may be working...with Kichiro. I-I don't think we have much time."

"You could experience what Lady Kanoko's feeling because of your chakra link, huh," Tenten said, as she helped Ino sit up, "Okay, now, we really can't hold back. I didn't want to do this, but..."

Tenten removed the burnt scroll that contained chakra it had absorbed from the fight in the battle village. Tenten placed her hand on it to draw out the chakra into her own body.

_This better work_, Tenten thought. The chakra soon coursed through Tenten's body and she felt an incredible energy that words couldn't even begin to describe.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Rebirth

The next day, Shizune moved swiftly around the hospital to make preparations for Hinata's final operation. Before they returned Hinata to the Leaf village, the shinobi on the mission made sure that no one had attached any bombs or tampered with the jutsu that had been protecting Hinata. In between talking to the medical staff, Shizune worried about the process of undoing both the Hyuga jutsu and the protective medical ninjutsu.

_What if there's something that we missed earlier? _Shizune thought to herself, _Was it possible that the enemy put a jutsu on Hinata that we couldn't detect? I really wish Sakura were here, especially since we're so understaffed. Oh Sakura! I wonder what they'll do to her! What _has _happened to her? What if-"_

"Hey, I know you're probably freaking out right now," someone behind Shizune said, "But, the way I see it, you're the best person for the job, so snap out of it."

Shizune turned to see Genma. As usual, he had his senbon in his mouth as he flashed her one of his carefree smiles.

"Oh, I didn't expect to see you here today," Shizune said. She then noticed that he was holding a bouquet of pink flowers.

"Are those...for a patient?"

"No, actually they're yours," Genma said, "Think of them as a little pre-gift."

Shizune blushed, to her own surprise. She then covered her face with her sleeve for a moment until the red faded from her face.

"For me, huh?" Shizune said, "What did I do to deserve those?"

Genma didn't respond immediately and Shizune became tense.

"Well, you're about to undo a complicated medical ninjutsu I watched you develop. Now that I think of it, maybe flowers aren't enough..."

He tapped his teeth on his senbon as he thought of how to phrase what he would say next. Shizune's heart started to beat faster. He was always there for her at critical moments, but this time felt different. His energy was warmer than usual, and he wasn't cracking jokes like he normally would.

"Genma, what are you talking about?" Shizune blurted out.

"Listen, Shizune...I don't want you to go into that operation room in a panic. Just know I'm really proud of you. I know there's a lot going on. Just remember to breathe, okay? I'll even stay here in the hospital babysitting these flowers until you're done."

"Is this a genjutsu?" Shizune said. Genma laughed.

"Come see me when you're done, and I'll give you an answer to that," he said.

Shizune's face became even more red and she excused herself to prepare. Genma stood alone in the hall as thoughts raced through his head. Soon, Raido joined him.

"Did you tell her?"

"No, I don't know what happened," Genma frowned, "But, anyway, can you confirm what the other guys heard earlier?"

Raido looked around and lowered his voice.

"Yes, it's true, Lady Kanoko left the village, although it isn't clear how she did it. And the Anbu thing, they say it was her doing...there are a few survivors being treated at the site."

"And the other thing?" Genma said with more urgency in his voice. Raido sighed.

"Yes, we're positive that Lady Hokage will go through with _that _plan," Raido said, "Now that it's confirmed, are you going to be the one to tell Shizune?"

"It'll be difficult, but yeah, I'll do it if need be," Genma said, "Shizune's going to play a key role in this plan, too. If only Sakura were here to help."

"There's been news on that, too," Raido said, "Apparently, Yamato's been tracking Sakura with those seeds he uses."

"At least we have that, I guess," Genma said, "This is getting way out of hand. Don't wait around for me here, go see how you can support Lady Hokage, she's about to do something huge. Maybe bring _her_ some flowers."

Genma watched Raido leave and then he took a seat to process what he just heard.

_I thought Lady Kanoko retrieving a portion of her power from that vault the Anbu were guarding was bad enough, but now Lady Hokage is actually going to take the rest of the Lady Kanoko's stored power and absorb it herself. Lady Hokage's planning on fighting Lady Kanoko, no doubt. A battle like that could cause unbelievable damage. Shizune's going to flip when she finds out. _

Back in the orange time-space Sakumaru, Ino and Tenten had been training nonstop. What had only been about twenty four hours in the real world felt like two weeks for them. The only thing that kept them going was Sakumaru's insistence that the Kakashi sensei from his world was getting closer. As they punched, kicked and fought, there were pleasantly surprised that there was no need for them to use the bathroom or eat. Ino ate a few food pills out of habit and Tenten summoned the water she stored from her scrolls just because she felt like she should hydrate.

Every once in a while, they would ask each other questions about their different worlds.

"Yes," Saku said, "Narumi is obsessed with ramen."

"Ichiraku's, right?" Ino asked.

"Of course," Saku laughed. He was about to make another comment, but immediately closed his mouth.

"What?" Tenten said.

"He's here,"

"There you are!" a voice from above them yelled out. They looked up to see Saku's Kakashi descending at a rapid speed. They managed to move in time to avoid Saku's Kakashi landing on them. He stopped himself from falling when he reached where they were standing. This Kakashi wore a black flak jacket over a sleeveless black top. He also wore dark blue pants and an armband of the same color covered his an Anbu tattoo. On the armband was a symbol that Tenten and Ino had never seen before.

"Ladies, this is my Kakashi Hatake," Saku said.

"Why hello there!" Kakashi said. He looked pleased to meet them for a moment, but then his expression became serious. He turned to Saku, "Wait, these aren't the young ladies that Narumi tried to send me to, are they?"

Saku sighed. "No sensei, these aren't the ones. We took care of that situation, don't worry."

"What do you mean?" Tenten said.

"Oh, it's nothing really," Kakashi said, "We were just on a mission to gather intel from a village that had very tight security and my student Narumi thought it would be best if she could decide how to integrate me into the village as soon as possible."

"Narumi tried to organize an arranged marriage between Kakashi and several young woman from the village," Saku quickly explained, "Long story short, one young woman agreed to participate but we had to call off the deal, and the young woman's family was very upset. They insulted and attacked us, Kikami Inuzuka and her dog, Aki ruined their chief's house. They tried to arrest us, then Lady Tsunade got involved. Several shouting matches and fist fights later, here we are. It's still not quite resolved, but at least they never saw Kakashi in person so the young lady couldn't get personally attached."

"Narumi described me as a man with a weird eye and zap-zap powers who always had his head in a book" Kakashi said, "I'm surprised they still considered me for marriage after that description."

Tenten and Ino exchanged looks. Maybe the two worlds were more different than they first thought.

"Kakashi sensei, I mean, Saku's Kakashi sensei," Tenten said, "We're from the Hidden Leaf village in a different world. We've been here for a while but we can't figure out how to get out. We need to do so as soon as possible because our friends are in danger.

"And not just our friends," Ino said, "Our whole world could be in trouble if we don't figure this whole thing out."

"Different world...trouble...hmmm," Kakashi said, "I think I could be more helpful if I heard the whole story. Let's start this from the beginning."

Tenten and Ino told him everything they knew about the situation. Saku chimed in with his own ideas about the man behind the Kichiro persona. Kakashi listened to them carefully.

"I see," Kakashi put his hand in his pocket and he crushed a piece of paper he had put in there a while back. He looked up and around slowly. They watched him in anticipation. He then put his free hand on his chin as he thought.

"So, what are you thinking?" Saku said, "You of all people would know what the next move should be."

"Well, I'm wondering," Kakashi said with a frown, "Do you guys know where I can find a trash bin? I've had this trash in my pocket all day and it's starting to bother me."

"WHAT?" the other three said simultaneously.

"Hah, great, now I really have your attention!" Kakashi pulled the hand with the balled paper out of his pocket quickly. It was a summoning paper from which he pulled five kunai on each finger and hurled at them in one quick motion. They were stunned, but Saku grabbed Tenten and Ino in time and moved them out of the way.

"Ah, crap!" Saku said as he held each kunoichi under his arms. Kakashi then appeared behind them and attacked with the Chidori. This was followed by yet another powerful jutsu. After another five more rapid attacks, Saku and Kakashi landed right in front of each other.

"_What _is going on?" Ino said, as she kicked around under Saku's arm.

"The usual," Saku said. He closed his eyes and tried to manage the familiar frustration.

"Way to carry the team, Saku. Ha, get it?" Kakashi said as a smile formed beneath his mask, "Let's start again. I am Kakashi Hatake. There are things I like and things I hate, but I won't get into that. As for my dreams for the future...well I haven't really come up with any. And my hobbies...I have several of those."

"Geez, just get on with it!" Saku yelled.

"If what all that you have told me is true, then you are certainly in need of special training. And what better place to start than here? This is Lady Kanoko's safety dimension, her personal time-space, if you will. She can summon people here in times of crisis, and the fact that there is no version of her here now worries me. Since the most obvious trouble is happening in your world, I think it's important that we get you two back there as soon as possible. That said, it would be wrong to even try to get you back there when there is so much that you don't even know yet."

"So, can you help us out?" Tenten said, "We need as much help as we can get if we even have a chance of stopping Lady Kanoko's sister and this Kichiro guy."

"Of course," Kakashi said, "The first thing you need to do is suppress all of the Goddess of Fire chakra in you. You can use it once you know how to properly fight with your own chakra. Then, we'll gradually incorporate that powerful chakra back and then work until you have very little of it left. Oh, and the final step will be the process of rebirth, which is my personal favorite."

"Rebirth?" Ino said, "What do you mean 'rebirth'?"

"We're really going to try this out, huh?" Saku said in a flat tone.

"Try what out? We're not guinea pigs for whatever experiment you're trying to run here," Tenten said.

"Don't worry, ladies," Kakashi said calmly, "If you're lucky, you'll only die one or two times and only for a few hours. It's no big deal. Now, what are your names?"

Back in Tenten and Ino's world, Hinata was resting in the hospital after her procedure. Shizune has successfully undone the jutsu, and Hinata was grateful that their plan has gone smoothly. But Hinata wasn't completely at peace. She sat up in her hospital bed and looked around.

"_I shouldn't use the Byakugan right now,_" she thought, "_I don't have much strength, but I remember some things that I want to tell the others about._"

She closed her eyes and reflected on the information she observed when she was taken into Kichiro's camp. At first, she couldn't see anything for days. She tried to rely on sound to figure out what was going on around her, but she couldn't hear very well for a while either. But whenever someone touched her, she experienced visions so vivid that they almost shocked her into full consciousness at first. The first vision she experienced occured when the platinum blonde genjutsu user pressed her hand against Hinata's forehead.

Hinata could see her memories. Her name was Yasu. It had once been Sayuri, but that name had been destroyed long before she joined Kichiro.

Sayuri was one of eight children from a small village in the Land of Wind. During her last year in her village, Sayuri would come home to see her siblings playing and laughing. Her parents would hug her affectionately and praise her, but Sayuri began to feel that something was off. And it was.

Over time she noticed small differences in their voices and their bodies began to look more transparent. She was terrified that what she suspected was going on would turn out to be true. One day, she stood in the middle of her house amidst the playing and laughter and yelled 'release' while forming genjutsu breaking hand sign.

Then she saw the very truth she had feared. There was blood everywhere. Corpses and broken walls surrounded her. She was too shaken up to even scream.

Sayuri soon learned that her family had been murdered by bandits who robbed them of their heirlooms when Sayuri was away from home months before. The villagers, who were unaware that someone used a genjutsu on Sayuri, simply thought Sayuri was a strange girl who went mad, took pity on her and would bring food to the house when Sayuri was sleeping or out and about so that she could eat.

The realization that she had been trapped in an illusion for many months after her family was murdered killed Sayuri and gave birth to Yasu. Yasu, the excellent genjutsu user who was the master of illusions. The Yasu who aimed to have ultimate control over her reality and the reality of others at all cost.

Hinata gathered a clearer picture of Yasu's life every time Yasu touched her forehead with the intention of sensing Hinata's brain activity and tampering with Hinata's mind.

Hinata learned mostly from the young medical nin who monitored her day and night. Their lives were also tragic, and Hinata sensed their desire to serve Lord Kichiro as well. To them, he was truly all they had.

Of all of the people she came in contact with, her visions of the taijutsu user, Yoiko, were the most clear and frightening. Yoiko only touched Hinata's arm on three occasions, but Hinata gathered a lot of information from her.

Yoiko was from the Land of Earth. She had had many names and even more opponents. The visions Hinata saw of Yoiko's life showed Yoiko's victories as well as her being brutally assaulted on multiple occasions. Hinata could almost feel the intense physical and emotional pain Yoiko had endured. It once moved Hinata to tears when Yoiko was in the room.

"Why are you crying?" Yoiko asked the semi-conscious Hinata. Hinata wanted to answer but she couldn't, "You Leaf shinobi are pitiful. You've gone through nothing yet you still have the nerve to cry."

_I'm not crying for me, _Hinata thought. She and Yoiko were there alone in a medical tent while most of the other kunoichi were out on missions for Kichiro. Yoiko looked at Hinata with contempt.

"You're going to die today," Yoiko said, "We decided that this morning. But we don't want our Lord soiling his hands by killing someone as lowly as you. So we've taken that task upon ourselves."

_What? _Hinata thought.

Yoiko took out her kunai and moved closer to Hinata. She stood over a perfectly still Hinata who had tears streaming down the sides of her face. Yoiko then plunged the kunai downward toward Hinata's stomach, but the blade stopped a few centimeters above Hinata's body.

"Just as I thought," Yoiko said, "Yasu couldn't kill your mind and I can't do anything to your body. It's unfair. Your people have killed one of my comrades, and I can't even lay a finger on you even though you are in our camp."

The comrade Yoiko was referring to was Yumi, the only friend Yoiko had made since leaving her village years before. After the Leaf had taken Yumi into custody, Yoiko's desire to live had greatly decreased because of the belief that Yumi was dead. Yoiko was eager to punish somebody.

Hinata wanted to tell her that the Leaf would not resort to killing her red haired comrade.

_No...no!_ Hinata thought as Yoiko spoke. Hinata could feel the words forming in her throat, desperate to get out.

"To think that the brightest light in the world is now gone because your people have murdered her."

Yoiko began to cry, but pressed her hand against her eyes to try to stop the tears from flowing. Lord Kichiro did not allow crying. The kunoichi in her camp who had a tendency to cry were killed by their own comrades for displaying weakness. The kunoichi who killed the most of her "weaker" comrades was praised by Kichiro the most.

The sight of Yoiko struggling made Hinata commit to getting at least a few words out.

"You're wrong," Hinata whispered. Hinata exerted a lot of energy just to speak those words even though she knew that there was a chance that the jutsu would break if she kept talking.

"Wha- how are you-" Yoiko looked down at her, "How are you speaking?"

Hinata had a few more words to say.

"My friends...they would never...do that," Hinata continued, "Even if...it's the way of you and your comrades...we don't kill unless...unless there's no other way...but there's always another way. I know...she's alive...your friend is..."

Yoiko stared down at Hinata for a few seconds. Impulsively, Yoiko tried to stab her again, but failed. She then started to sob as she clutched the kunai in her hand.

"She's alive...I promise," Hinata said. Her chakra started to shift around her chakra network at an irregular rate, and she knew that if she didn't stop talking, both jutsu that had been applied to her would fail.

After Yoiko had finished crying that day, she didn't come back to the tent for days. As time passed, Hinata could perceive more and more of the world around her with the help of the Hyuga's hidden jutsu. She could hear even more clearly after the incident with Yoiko, and the subtle activation of her Byakugan allowed her to see some of the world beyond the tent she was kept in.

One day, Yasu and Yoiko came to the tent. Yoiko had convinced the others that attempting to kill Hinata was useless, but there was a way to hurt her. Yoiko told Yasu that she had put a jutsu on Hinata that would cause explosives to fly off of her when she returned to the Hidden Leaf. If they could not kill Hinata, they could kill her loved ones back in the village.

Yasu had been skeptical at first, but did not make an issue of it. Instead, Yasu left to assist Lord Kichiro. Little did Yasu know, Yoiko did not use any jutsu on Hinata. She decided to trust Hinata's word. After all, Hinata nearly risked breaking her jutsu to tell Yoiko that her friend was likely alive.

As Hinata sat in her hospital bed reflecting on her time in their camp, she felt many emotions. It was startling and sad, but Hinata was happy that what she told Yoiko was true. After the jutsu were lifted, Hinata asked Shizune about Yumi's status and was glad to learn that Yumi was still alive.

Although that brought her comfort, Hinata was still bother about something she didn't get a lot of information on. She did not recall having any visions related to Kichiro, but other memories were coming back to her slowly.

Hinata then remembered sensing the presence of a male shinobi near the camp. She closed her eyes in the hospital bed and tried to remember more about him. At one point, she could make out his figure. His forehead protector had the Hidden Mist symbol. He carried two swords and had light blue hair. Most memorable was her sensing his intent to kill.

_I see,_ Hinata thought, _He must be a Mist shinobi who's going after Kichiro._

There was a knock on her hospital door.

"Come in," Hinata said. The door opened and Neji walked in holding white flowers.

"Hello Lady Hinata," he said, "I'm glad to see you're all right."

"Neji," she said, "Thank you for coming."

Neji placed the flowers down on the stand next to her bed.

"I wanted to see how you're doing," he said, "But there's something else."

"Yes?"

"It turns out, our enemy, Kichiro and his band have much more power than we thought. They recently crossed into the Land of Water and appear to be heading for the Land of Lightning as well."

"Oh no! Does that mean..."

"The other nations are starting to blame us for this," Neji closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration, "If we can't crush Kichiro and his band soon, we may be heading into the next great shinobi war."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Journey Through Water to Hellfire

As Kichiro's band of kunoichi traveled deeper into the Land of Water, Sakura tried to make sense of her conflicting feelings. Her newfounded lust for power was intense, but she grew less frightened of it with every passing day. At the same time, she did miss the Hidden Leaf village and her friends. Her complicated feelings, however, were not as important as the mission she had given herself.

She had become a rogue ninja, and she knew that her home village would forever see her as a traitor. Still, she was able to focus her destructive desires on destroying Kichiro's band from the inside. After all, the powerful rage that came from the chakra she had absorbed from Yumi and Kanoko had to go somewhere. Sakura was satisfied with the fact that she was able to at least move her chaotic energy away from those that she loved before she could cause them immense pain.

Initially, Sakura had attempted to convince Kichiro that she had betrayed the village by bringing Kichiro an heirloom that Lady Tsunade had inherited from her grandfather, the First Hokage. That heirloom was a powerful sword that could cut through almost anything and it was also able to enhance the user's chakra control. Sakura had gone through great lengths to get that sword, and since it was legendary, Kichiro was impressed that she had brought it to him as a sign of her commitment to being his follower.

But Sakura could not have known how much more she needed to do to truly convince Kichiro that she was on his side. For a man like him, one treasure was simply not enough. Kichiro demanded that loyalty and commitment be shown to him every single day, often in the most gruesome ways.

When Sakura absorbed Yumi's chakra during their fight she also gained access to many of Yumi's memories, but Kichiro's latest methods had become more harsh than they were when Yumi was a part of the band.

As they walked in silence through thick fog, Sakura kept her head down. Eventually, even the sound of their footsteps began to fade. It was if they were blindly walking into oblivion, and no one dared to make a sound that could have been interpreted as a complaint. After countless silent movements, Kichiro, who had again taken on the appearance of a middle aged man, stopped in front of the band. All of the kunoichi also stopped, and then they bowed their heads. Miraculously, the fog around Kichiro had cleared and they could all see him at the front of the band.

"Can anyone tell me where we are headed next?" Kichiro said as he turned to face them, "Where are our feet carrying us?"

Sakura had some idea of the answer based on what she knew from Yumi's memories, but she knew better than to speak up.

One kunoichi, who was no more than thirteen years old, raised her head slightly. The other kunoichi remained motionless.

"You," Kichiro said, as though he was accusing her of committing some terrible act before she could even speak.

"Lord Kichiro, sir," she said in a timid voice, "I, your humble servant, wish to respond to your question."

"Proceed,"

"Thank you, my lord," the kunoichi said, "We are traveling to the Shipwreck Islands where we will meet allies who will provide us with a map to the treasures we seek, sir."

There was a long silence.

"Well," Kichiro said, "My child, you are correct, we are going to travel to the Shipwreck Islands to meet allies. That is certainly true. But. It does not answer the question of where we are going _next_."

Kichiro then called that young kunoichi to the front. Sakura looked at the barely visible ground, preparing herself not to react to what would happen next.

The young kunoichi trembled as she put her arm out in front of Lord Kichiro. It was scarred up from previous punishments. Kichiro asked her to lift her other are up instead.

"My child, since you are young, I will have mercy and again choose not to take your arm from your body."

"Thank you, my lord," the young kunoichi said as she held back her tears. If one tear dropped, she knew that she would receive a punishment that would be far worse.

"We were going to the Shipwreck Islands first, but after our meeting a few days ago, I decided that we would make another stop before that. Yukina told several of you this before she and your other comrades departed for the Land of Lightning. You were supposed to spread this new travel information among yourselves."

"We are sorry, my lord," they all said to Kichiro, "Please forgive us for our carelessness."

"You will have my forgiveness," Lord Kichiro said, "After I have received this payment."

With that Kichiro took out a kunai, and sunk it into the young girl's arm. She screamed out in anguish.

"We are now going to visit an ally in the Lifted Islands," Kichiro said as he cut the girl's arm in several other places, "Does everyone understand what I have said?"

"We understand, my lord," the kunoichi all said in unison.

"This ally is special, he is known as one of the greatest scientific minds," Kichiro said, "Like me, he is feared. Maybe a few of you are familiar with him. He is one of the legendary sannin, Orochimaru."

Sakura had to suppress a shriek when she heard the name. Was Kichiro really going to see Orochimaru or did he only say that to make Sakura react? Sakura couldn't tell, but it took everything in her to keep herself together.

Kichiro then shoved the young kunoichi toward a medical nin who would stop the blood from flowing out of her wounds. Of course, the medical nin had to patch the young kunoichi up as they all moved forward. If any of them fell behind, they knew Kichiro would not hesitate to punish them in the worst way he could think of.

_If we see Orochimaru he'll recognize me for sure, _Sakura thought, _and if Sasuke is there...No...No, I can't think about that!_

Far back from Kichiro's band was the young man from the Mist who had been following Kichiro for months. Like Sakura, the young Mist shinobi was following Kichiro to gain more knowledge on how to destroy him.

His name was Tashiro and he was of the Mist's renown Minazuki Clan. Tashiro was the perfect person to pursue Kichiro because Tashiro was gifted with the ability to conceal his body and his chakra from the detection of most other people.

No one in the band had sensed Tashiro, but he decided to stay at a distance to ensure that he could observe Kichiro and his followers without any chance of clashing with them.

Tashiro had been keeping a close eye on a few of the kunoichi to see if any would be bold enough to stray from following Kichiro. He had believed it would be Yumi, but since Yumi was no longer a part of the band, Sakura was the one he decided to study next.

Tashiro was intrigued by the chakra he sensed in Sakura. Her chakra was more vile than pleasant to him, but he could tell that there was something sweet about Sakura at her core.

_I'll keep an eye on the new pink haired one, _he thought as he followed them through the fog, _There's something awful eating her up from the inside, but hopefully she'll be the one to betray him before he turns them all into complete monsters. They've only been in this land for less than three whole days, and they've already ruined two villages. The feudal lord and Lady Mizukage are definitely going to arrange to send some shinobi after them soon. I hope this new Leaf kunoichi gets out of this group before that happens or she'll die right along with them. More importantly, I hope I can rescue uncle in time._

Tashiro continued to follow the band of kunoichi until they arrived at Orochimaru's hideout in the Lifted Islands. After the visit with Orochimaru, Kichiro would have what he needed to collect one of the major treasures of the Goddess of Fire, the Hellfire Blade. According to ancient lore, if one collects enough of the Goddess's weapons, they will be able to use the Goddess's jutsu. So far, Kichiro only had two of the Goddess's protective shields and just enough of the Goddess of Fire's chakra to get that Hellfire Blade which the map from the allies in the Shipwreck Island would reveal.

Kichiro would need the possessor of Lady Kanoko's body in order to retrieve more weapons, but that would take some time. He secretly hoped that Sakura would have enough of Lady Kanoko's chakra to at least find three other weapons for him. After all, Sakura knew to meet Kichiro near the Village of Bamboo because Kanoko's chakra, the chakra of the Goddess of Fire, led her there.

Although it was hard to manage at the time, Kanoko's chakra would provide Sakura with knowledge and protection that would make her a star among the other kunoichi in Kichiro's band.

But Sakura wasn't the only Leaf kunoichi who was on a journey to becoming more powerful. In Lady Kanoko's dimension, Ino and Tenten had been meditating to stabilize themselves after their rebirths.

What had been a week in the outside world was fourteen weeks for them in Kanoko's time-space. In that time, they trained nonstop. With several months of kunoichi specialized training under their belt, Ino and Tenten's power and stamina were greater than ever.

"Now, I feel like you're ready to go back out there," Saku's Kakashi said, "Since we still don't know everything that's going on, I suggest you contact the Leaf as soon as you leave here just to let everyone know you're alright."

"You don't think we should just head straight back?' Tenten said.

"No, I think your friend, um, Sakura, was it? I think you should work on preventing her from gaining more of the Goddess of Fire's power. Find a way to save and bring her home, that should be your priority for now."

"Right," Ino said, "I'll try to locate her and hopefully we can pop up near wherever she is."

"Sakumaru and I will stay here," Saku's Kakashi said, "You're a lot stronger now and you should be able to contact us if you need backup."

Ino closed her eyes to concentrate. Tenten had already begun to prepare a message to send back to the village which she would do by using a transportation jutsu she developed with Sai. Once Ino found Sakura's general location, Kakashi released them back into their world. Kakashi wished them good luck with a smile, but he was still uneasy about their situation.

"Can we go back to our own world now, too?" Sakumaru said, "I need a break."

"Years ago, Lady Kanoko had instructed me to watch over this space during emergencies, so I can't leave until I get a signal from her," Kakashi explained, "But I may be able to release y-"

"HELLLOOOOO!" someone screamed, "KAKASHI SENSEI, ARE YOU IN THERE?"

"Oh, wow," Kakashi said as he held his ears, "I guess they sent a search party for us after all."

"HELLLLLOOOOOO!" Narumi said again.

"Oh, um, on second thought, I might just stay here!" Saku laughed nervously, "Yeah, I think that's what's best right now. Totally! I mean what kind of person would I be if I left you here by yourself, right sensei?"

"KAKASHI SENSEI, WE HAVE FOUND YOU ANOTHER FIANCEE! WE WILL INTRODUCE YOU TO HER AS SOON AS WE CAN RESCUE YOU!" another kunoichi from their world screamed from outside the time-space.

Kakashi sighed.

"If things get worse on Ino and Tenten's side, maybe we can put these loudmouths to work."

"That's a big maybe," Saku groaned.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Kunoichi in Action

Ino and Tenten tumbled back into their world and found themselves on a hill overlooking a small town. They could hear many of the townspeople cheering as they all took part in a grand festival. Despite feeling sore, they quickly got on their feet.

"Where are we?"

"Not sure. Let me see if I can read the mental chakra of some of those people down there," Ino said.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to go check?" Tenten said.

Ino signed.

"Really, Tenten?" she said, "You really want to just walk into something we're totally unprepared for _again_?"

"Okay, fine, fine, do your thing," Tenten sat on the ground as Ino closed her eyes to concentrate. Ino mumbled to herself as she put two fingers to each of her temples to focus.

After Tenten transported her message from her scroll to Sai's, Tenten realized how much she missed the Hidden Leaf. As she readied herself to move further into the Land of Water, she thought of her teammates. To celebrate her improvements during the early days of the kunoichi training program, Rock Lee and Guy sensei had walked on their hands around the village for several hours. They would loudly congratulate Tenten every time they would pass her, and even though she had been embarrassed by their antics, she was happy that her progress had made them proud.

Then she thought of Neji and remembered the charm he had given her before she left on the mission to rescue Hinata. She touched the charm which she wore around her wrist and smiled as she looked at the Hyuga symbol on it.

"This place is called Yasuragi," Ino said, "They call it that because it's supposed to be peaceful here."

"Wow, you really got that from their minds?" Tenten said, "You have really improved, huh?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Ino grumbled, "Anyway, now that we're back in our own world, I'm hungry again. Let's just get something to eat and head out to look for Sakura."

"What, you don't want to check into an inn or something? We should probably rest up before we go after her. Saku's Kakashi sai-"

"Saku's Kakashi isn't here with us right now. I'm grateful for all that we learned from him, but he didn't tell us to use our best judgment? I think it's best that we get closer to Sakura as soon as possible."

Tenten sighed.

"Look, I know you're trying to prove that you're committed to finding our friend, but we have to think about what's best in the long run. You may feel bold right now, but you might not feel that way when we actually catch up to her."

Ino gave Tenten a harsh look. Tenten's eyes widened.

"What do you mean by that?"Ino said.

"I-I mean, you don't always stay committed to your plans. You change your mind quickly sometimes. At least after a good night's rest you can be more certain about how to stop Sakura."

"My indecisiveness may be a problem sometimes, but don't act like your impulsiveness is any better!"

"C'mon, don't be like that Ino," Tenten said. Ino stormed down the side of the hill toward the festive town and Tenten followed close behind her.

Despite their argument, the two were still in a better mood than Sakura. The journey to the Lifted Islands was long and painful to say the least. A few kunoichi collapsed along the way and other kunoichi grabbed and dragged their bodies forward as people do with dead animals.

When they were close to Orochimaru's hideout, another young kunoichi passed out near the back of the band. Without looking back, Kichiro gave an order.

"Sakura, dispose of her," he said, "I don't want to see her body just lying there on our journey back from our visit with our ally. When you're done, catch up quickly. And be sure to bring a souvenir."

"I will do as you have instructed, my Lord," Sakura said. She stopped and watched Kichiro and the others continue on into the fog. Sakura knew he wanted her to kill the girl, and she didn't want to think about the type of "souvenir" he was expecting.

The invisible Tashiro walked closer to Sakura to observe her work. What Sakura would do next would show Tashiro what side of herself she was willing to listen to.

Sakura took the young girl in her arms and sighed. For a moment, the chaotic chakra within Sakura made her think about how she could snap the girl's neck so easily and present her head as a souvenir to Kichiro. Sakura quickly shook the disgusting idea out of her head.

_Remember who the real enemy is_, Sakura thought.

She then removed a scroll from under her robe and wrapped it around the girl's thigh. The characters on the scroll began to change as Sakura began performing her medical ninjutsu.

"I see," Sakura mumbled to herself, "So that's the length of the bone...and then..."

Tashiro got even closer to get a better look as the scroll that was giving Sakura the measurements of the girl's leg. That jutsu was a less complicated version of a technique that some medical nin used to make a temporary, emergency prosthetic and it took a great deal of chakra control to get it right.

Once Sakura had the measurements of the bone in the girl's thigh, she removed the scroll from the leg and placed a lump of clay inside of it. While infusing chakra, she created a replica of the girl's bone and made it look as though it was fresh from the body.

"This should make him think I'm cruel enough to rip out her femur," Sakura said to herself, "Who knows, I might even get a promotion."

Sakura put the fake bone down and thought about how she would get the girl to a place where she would be safe.

"Wow, you really are different after all," Sakura heard Tashiro say.

Sakura reached into her back pouch for a weapon.

"W-who's there?" she said as she gripped the unconscious girl with one hand and held her kunai with the other.

"No one's here, well except me." Tashiro said, "I guess I'm someone, huh?"

"Look, I don't have time for any games or any trouble," Sakura said, "I just want to get this girl out of here and return to my lord."

"Well, you could kill her and dump the body somewhere," he said, "People do it all the time."

"I'm not someone who does things like that," Sakura said.

"But aren't you supporting a man who has done far worse? Sure, maybe you're not like that now. But eventually..."

The words of the invisible man scared Sakura, but she soon turned that fear into anger. She gritted her teeth and could feel her temperature increasing rapidly.

"I don't believe in senseless killing, but if you keep messing with me, I'll end you."

Tashiro didn't respond. He smiled to himself as he watched her from a short distance away. Sakura's resistance of Kichiro's will impressed him, but there was still more he wanted to see.

"Okay, fine," Tashiro said, "If you really are not that bad of a person, I suggest you take her to a village not too far from here. They're very hospitable, and they don't ask a lot of questions."

Sakura considered the idea for a moment.

"How do I know I can trust you if you don't even show your face?"

"That, my friend, is a risk you must be willing to take. The longer you wait to make a decision about what to do with her, the more likely it is that she'll end up dead somehow."

Sakura decided to listen to Tashiro's mysterious voice. He guided her to the nearest village where everything appeared as he said it would. Sakura instructed the medical staff to keep the girl in the village and have her adjust to a new life there. She also insisted that they not allow anyone from outside of that village to see her, not even someone who appears to be Sakura, just to ensure the girl's safety. Tashiro watched this all from a distance.

"There, are you happy now?" Sakura said to the blowing wind once she had left the girl in the village.

Tashiro didn't respond. Like Kichiro, Tashiro was testing Sakura to see who she really was. He decided to just watch and wait as she made her next move before he spoke to her again.

In truth, Sakura would continue to surprise Tashiro. But she wouldn't be the only one to do so.

The next day, Ino and Tenten flew to the Shipwreck Islands using one of Sai's super beast scroll birds which Tenten had sealed in her own scroll before they left the Hidden Leaf.

They stopped on an island called Echo, which was where people from all over came to trade.

"It's a good thing it's not raining right now," Ino said, "Otherwise, this bird would've been destroyed."

As they dismounted, Tenten looked up at the sky. Through the many clouds came a faint ray of sunlight which streamed down on a nearby island.

"That's the place, huh?" Tenten said.

Ino turned to look up and she frowned. They both knew that the light, though dim, was shining down on that other island because of a mysterious power source that lived there. They could feel the energy of the Goddess of Fire from that distance.

"Do you think we should check it out? It's basically calling our name," Tenten said.

"No, our job is to get Sakura and head back as soon as we can," Ino said, "We're early so we'll just swoop in and get her when they finally get here, nothing flashy, just a grab and go."

"Aw, that's no fun. Is this because you're still mad at me about what I said earlier?"

"That's not it, we just can't afford to take certain risks right now, not without backup," Ino said. The truth was that Ino was still bothered by Tenten implying that she was indecisive. But that wasn't important, they had a mission they had to complete, and Ino didn't want to revisit the issue.

They visited the shopping area and Tenten bought them dumplings from a dumpling shop owned by an elderly couple. They walked around for a while and eventually decided to eat near a quiet dock to avoid getting mixed up with some of Echo island's unfriendly travelers.

Ino kept glancing up at the light. She was curious about it, but wanted to stick to her decision to not get into something they might not be able to handle.

Unfortunately, things would not go as Ino would hope. As they ate, Tenten saw Ino grab her head suddenly and cry out in pain.

"What? What is it?" Tenten said. Tenten put her hand on Ino's shoulder to comfort her, but was shocked when Ino began to laugh hysterically. Tenten was horrified when she saw that Ino's eyes had turned black.

Suddenly, the world around Tenten disappeared and she found herself chained up in a dark place. She could hear the growling of several unknown beasts in the distance.

Tenten had been caught in Yasu's genjutsu which Yasu had cast after Yasu saw Tenten and Ino sitting near the dock. After the genjutsu was activated, Yasu and part of Kichiro's band tied up Tenten and Ino's body and hung them from a cliff above the sea. Yasu intended for the two Leaf kunoichi to struggle in the genjutsu realm which would cause them to squirm in the real world and break the rope. They were supposed to die on impact after the rope was broken and their bodies hit the water, but Yasu greatly underestimated her opponents.

The issue with Yasu's plan was that she could not control Ino's mind. As Yasu and the other rogue kunoichi looked down at the cliff at their squirming captives, Yasu did not know that Ino had evaded her jutsu entirely.

Yasu had been instructed by Kichiro to use her own summoning bird to travel to the Shipwreck Islands and eliminate any enemies that would stand in the way between them and the Goddess of Fire's treasure. Unfortunately for Yasu, she didn't know that Ino had not only avoided the genjutsu, but had also swapped consciousnesses with one of Kichiro's other kunoichi.

Soon after, Yasu commanded a giant bird to take her and the other rogue kunoichi from Echo to the island that had been kissed by the dim skylight. There lied the legendary Hellfire Blade.

From inside of the possessed kunoichi's body, Ino looked back at her own body and at Tenten as the bird departed from Echo Island. She telepathically communicated a plan to Tenten who was struggling under Yasu's genjutsu. Once Tenten had communicated with Ino, she stopped moving around and let the ocean breeze gently sway her body as she reviewed the plan in her head.

When Yasu and the other kunoichi landed in the heart of the island where Hellfire lived, they dismounted from the large bird and found themselves surrounded by green and blue flowers. Ino began to feel dizzy.

"Remember, these will kill you if you take in their scent for too long. You must hold your breath from here to the tower," Yasu said. As soon as the kunoichi started running toward the tower, Ino made sure she was close to the front. Yasu knew that the kunoichi Ino possessed was typically not that fast. Luckily for Ino, Yasu assumed the newfound speed was proof that the possessed kunoichi was desperate to avoid death.

As Ino ran in her disguise, she wondered why she wasn't sensing Sakura. She had sensed Sakura heading toward the Shipwreach Islands earlier in the day, but all traces of Sakura had since vanished.

When they arrived at the tower, Yasu instructed the disguised Ino to open the first door.

"It is time for you to demonstrate your commitment to the mission of Lord Kichiro," Yasu said, "Step forth!"

Ino was extraordinarily nervous, but she did not show it. She marched to the large stone door and took a deep breath.

_I didn't go through all of those rebirths just to die here,_ Ino thought. She lifted her hand slowly and tapped into the Goddess chakra inside of her.

The great stone door shook in response to the chakra connected to Ino's consciousness. It flew up with a bang and so did the four other massive doors behind it. Some of the kunoichi cheered, but when Ino turned to look at Yasu, Yasu just stared at her blankly. The other kunoichi's voices died down when they realized that Yasu hadn't responded to what had just happened. Ino didn't know that only Yasu was supposed to be able to open the others.

Yasu entered the long, dark corridor and the others followed behind her. As they moved forward, candles on the walls lit themselves and revealed ancient depictions of the Goddess of Fire. For the first time, Ino caught a glimpse of the hilt of the sword on Yasu's back which poked up slightly from underneath Yasu's hood.

_A sword-wielding genjutsu user, huh?_ Ino thought, _If this does come down to a fight, Tenten and I are definitely going to have to adjust a few of our formations. I gotta tell her about all of this._

"You've gotten better, I see," Yasu said to Ino, "Keep it up, and you might move up a rank."

Ino struggled to find a fitting voice for the kunoichi whose body she was controlling. Was her voice raspy, deep, or light as a feather?

"Oh...uh. Uh-huh," Ino responded in a painful, but flat tone. Yasu moved forward without noticing any awkwardness.

_Yikes, maybe I should just be the strong-and-silent type._

Ino felt something tugging at her consciousness as they walked. When they reached the center of the tower, her chakra was responding to a powerful presence. Ino shook in her host body.

"Don't tell me you're cold?" Yasu said as she turned to face the kunoichi.

At the center of the tower was an extremely tall, white pillar with steps that spiraled around it. At the top of the pillar was something that could be glorious or dreadful, depending on who interacted with it.

"Well, if you'd prefer to stay outside while we retrieve the treasure, feel free to do so" Yasu said.

"No, I am fine. Thank you," Ino replied.

Ino knew then that she had to keep whatever was at the top of the white pillar out of the hands of Kichiro. Her mission to rescue Sakura was growing more complicated by the moment. A million ideas rushed through her head.

_First things first, I need Tenten to get here. _She sent Tenten a short, telepathic message about what she was seeing as Yasu and the others proceeded toward the staircase.

_This thing is massive, couldn't the bird just fly us up?_ Ino thought, _This is going to take at least an hour even if we run. _

To Ino's surprise, Kichiro's kunoichi had been practicing for that moment. They used a technique that allowed them to jump up about fifty steps at once. Ino stood wide-eyed as they all moved up the staircase quickly.

_I don't think I could even use the Mind Targeting jutsu right now, I could lose hold of this body._

Suddenly, Ino sensed several people approaching the island on some kind of flying beast. The hairs on her body stood up when she realized that one of the people heading toward them was Sakura. The chakra Ino sensed in Sakura was darker than any chakra Ino had felt in a long time.

_W-what is this?_ Ino thought. Immediately, she infused a small amount of Goddess chakra to help her speed after Yasu and the other kunoichi.

Yasu had also sensed the presence of Lord Kichiro, which she announced once Ino's host body caught up with them. It was the first time Ino had seen Yasu look frightened. Yasu quickly resumed her normal expression and ordered everyone to increase their climbing speed.

_Tenten, are you ready?_ Ino spoke telepathically to her friend.

_I just need a few more minutes,_ Tenten responded.

_We don't have much time, Sakura is here and she's very different._

_I don't like the way you said 'different'. So we're definitely going to have an all-out fight?_

_No, not a fight. A battle._

Ino's jutsu were limited by the host body's abilities, and if she released more of the Goddess's chakra, the host kunoichi would likely disintegrate.

"Tenten please get my body here as soon as you can," Ino said to herself, which sounded more like a prayer than a statement.

At the top of the pillar the kunoichi formed a circle around a grand sword which was encased in what appeared to be an orange-tinted crystal. The kunoichi that formed the circle sat down and began reciting the words of a forbidden jutsu. Ino joined them and muttered nonsense to herself, hoping no one would notice. Yasu stood facing the sword.

"Oh, Great Goddess, please here my request," Yasu began, "I know I am a lowly mortal. A mortal that is dedicated to serving a man that has wonderful dreams for this world. Oh, Great Goddess, my master is your humble servant. He requests your power to save mankind from itself. He requests your blessing to purify this wretched world."

Ino noticed that there was a glow coming from beneath Yasu's cloak. Yasu then opened her cloak to reveal one of the Goddess of Fire's shields.

_Oh great, just when I thought this couldn't get any worse, _Ino thought as she tried to resist the urge to shake her head.

Moments later Tenten flew right above the top of the tower on another one of Sai's super beast birds she had stored. Ino sensed her and communicated a countdown.

"_10...9...8..."_

Yasu moved toward the sword slowly.

"_7...6...5...4..."_

She then reached out her hand.

"_3...2...1..."_

Her fingers barely touched the glass...

...

There was an explosion and the roof of the tower was no more. Ino moved to climb up the falling debris until she could see Tenten holding her unconscious body.

Ino released the body she had possessed and returned to her own as Tenten prepared to aim Ino's body downward for the attack they had planned telepathically. Without hesitation, Ino used a jutsu she knew would defeat Yasu and the others in an instant.

"Art of the Goddess: Divine Fire Bomb Jutsu!"

In a split second, a massive shockwave traveled through the island, uprooting the earth and destroying the trees all around the tower. The sea around the island churned and waves crashed against the shore. The impact of the jutsu even startled people on other nearby islands, including the travelers on Echo.

In the distance, a changed Sakura stood next to Kichiro and watched as the top of the tower crumbled.

_So that's how it's gonna be, huh, Ino, _she thought.

Sakura cracked her fists. Far down on the water below, Tashiro dodged the massive waves as he sprinted toward the shore to assess the situation.

_What is this? _he thought to himself, _All of this chakra...It's beyond human. _

_..._

Back in the Hidden Leaf, Shikamaru and Neji played cards on a recreation table outside of a noodle shop. Sensing damage to the charm he gave Tenten, Neji sat back abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Shikamaru said.

"Something's happened to the girls," Neji responded.

Shikamaru jumped up.

"What are you saying?" Shikamaru said, "Is the squad that was sent out not going to get to them in time?"

They turned to look at Sai who was drawing at a table behind them.

"Sai, what do you know about this? Has anything else come through your scroll about our comrades?" Neji asked.

Sai looked up at them and gave an emotionless smile.

"No, I haven't heard anything else," Sai said, "Should we assume the worst?"

Neji and Shikamaru immediately ran to the Hokage's office. Before they could even get inside the building, they were stopped by jonin guards.

"I'm sorry, but Lady Hokage is not available at the moment. She will not be taking any visitors for a few days."

Under any other circumstances, the guard's ominous words would bother them, but they didn't dwell on why Lady Hokage was inaccessible.

Neji turned to Shikamaru.

"I guess this is up to us," Neji said. Shikamaru nodded.

They turned and ran to the village's gate. They rushed past Yumi on the way and she watched them run off with a frown on her face.

"Where do you think they're going?" Hinata said as she approached Yumi.

"Nowhere good,"

The wind began to pick up and the leaves danced around as if celebrating the last good day any of the shinobi would ever have.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: The Unknown Fire

Shizune paced the hallway outside of the Hokage's office. Lady Hokage had begun absorbing the Goddess's chakra, and even though there were no obvious changes in Lady Tsunade's behavior, Shizune could not help but worry about her.

Shizune's heels moved swiftly across the floor as she wished to know how to put a firm stop to the business with Lady Kanoko, who the Leaf had lost track of completely. If there was only something Shizune could have picked up on back then, years before when she first saw Lady Kanoko...

...

"Come on, Shizune, pick up the pace!" Tsunade said, "We have to get to the Hidden Leaf quickly. I have to get these papers to Lord Third as soon as possible."

The then ten-year-old Shizune hurried behind Tsunade, which was something Shizune would continue to do as the years went on.

When they finally arrived in the village, Tsunade encouraged Shizune to walk around and explore as Tsunade met with Lord Third.

Shizune happily listened to Tsunade. Shizune ran around the village and enjoyed herself until she accidentally ran into a group of three older kids who were carrying sticks and rope.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry," Shizune said.

"Hey, watch where you're going, loser!" an older boy said as he shoved her.

"Who are you anyway, you don't look like anyone I've seen before," another kid said.

"Wait, I know you, you're Lady Tsunade's little puppy that she drags everywhere, right?" the first kid said "What, are your parents dead or something?"

The older kids all laughed as Shizune's face turned red. They continued to shove her until her back was against a wall.

"Hey, I have an idea," the first older kid said, "How would you like to be our sacrifice?"

He grabbed her by the arm and the others helped pull her away to take her to what they called the "Goddess's temple".

"S-sacrifice?" Shizune said, "T-to a Goddess?"

"Yeah, I heard the Goddess has been going crazy lately," the third kid said, "Only a sacrifice will calm her down, and you're the perfect person for the job. It's not like anyone will miss _you_."

They all laughed cruelly as they dragged her away.

"Hey, dipshits," someone said, "Leave the girl alone!"

The older kids turned to see a kid with a senbon in his mouth. His name was Genma Shiranui.

"Are you talking to us, needle face?" one of the older kids said.

"Needle face?" Genma said, "So you really are as dumb as you look, huh?"

"Shut up, or you'll be sacrificed next!" one of the other kids yelled. Tears were welling in Shizune's eyes as the older kids kept yanking her around.

"Sacrifice?" Genma said, "Sounds like a load of crap to me."

Genma then glanced at Shizune.

"It's okay, don't worry about me," Shizune said.

Genma looked up at the clouds and sighed.

"Listen, I'll make you a deal," Genma said to the older kids, "I'll spit my senbon way up into the air. If I don't defeat all three of you by the time it comes back down, then you can "sacrifice" her or whatever."

Shizune's eyes widened and Genma looked at her again. He had a neutral look on his face, but his eyes made her a promise. He was going to save her. But how, she wondered.

"Ready?" Genma said.

"Oh, this'll be a piece of cake," one of the older kids responded.

"I like your confidence," Genma smiled and then shot his senbon high into the sky.

Before Shizune could process what was happening, Genma disappeared and reappeared behind her and her captors. He knocked the largest of them out cold with a quick kick to the side of the head, and then he slammed his fist into another older kid so many times, that kid was staggering around in confusion for minutes after. The final older kid held onto Shizune, but he was shaking as Genma circled him a few times. Genma finally made the move to strike him, but the kid fell over and peed his pants before Genma could even touch him.

"Okay, okay, take her," the pissy pants kids said, "just please don't hurt me!"

Shizune was about to thank Genma, but noticed that Genma had his eyes on the sky, waiting for the return of his signature object. Soon, he caught the falling senbon with his teeth and then took a bow.

"There's one more!" someone else yelled. A silver haired kid leaped up from behind Genma and launched himself at a fourth older kid who was running up behind Shizune to attack her. That older kid had been waiting to strike Genma whenever he saw an opening, but the silver haired shinobi swiftly knocked the fourth bully out. The barely conscious older bullies dragged their unconscious friends and fled the scene.

"Ah, of course," Genma said with a half smile, "The honorable Kakashi Hatake comes to save his comrades once again.".

"MY COMRADES, NOW IS THE TIME TO DEMONSTRATE OUR YOUTHFUL PASSION, THE HANDSOME BLUE BEAST IS HERE TO ASSIST YOU, I WILL NOT LET-oh no, I'm late again, aren't I?" Guy said as he rushed from behind Kakashi.

"I swear, you and Obito have the worst timing," Kakashi said.

_These boys, they're...interesting_, Shizune thought as Genma helped her up.

They all introduced themselves and she thanked them for their help after telling them her own name. She recognized the silver haired one as the son of the legendary White Fang and she knew of Guy because she had heard of his father as well. But the boy with the senbon was new to her.

"This was kind of like one of those group projects where the guy who does all the work has to share credit with the slackers," Genma joked.

"Slackers?" Kakashi said, "What are you talking about, I totally saved you."

"Oh, to be a young and dedicated shinobi. This is the most honorable existence! I am incredibly grateful to have you all as my comrades!" Guy said as he raised a fist to the sky.

"Okay, okay, guys I'll take it from here," Genma said, shooing them away. As they departed, Guy began to speak passionately about his rivalry with Kakashi and the power of a youthful spirit. Kakashi walked away slowly and Guy followed soon behind him. As usual, Kakashi's disinterested look did nothing to discourage Guy from talking excessively.

"Those guys," Genma shook his head. He then helped Shizune dust off the bottom of her kimono, "Are you hurt at all?"

"No, I'm not, thank you again."

"You don't have to keep thanking me," he said, "I did what any decent shinobi would do, Shizune. It's Shizune, right?"

For whatever reason, Shizune started giggling.

"Yes, that's my name," she said. She was stunned when Genma then locked arms with her.

"Shizune," Genma said, "I like it."

Genma walked around the village with Shizune and showed her all of the sites he could think of. Shizune saw many familiar faces and buildings and whenever she saw something new to her, she asked Genma about it. Their arms stayed locked together for the whole village tour and they found each other very entertaining.

"Genma, can I ask you something?" Shizune said.

"Yes, Shizune?"

"Those mean older kids earlier...they said they would sacrifice me. That they would take me to the Goddess's altar. Do you know what that was all about?"

Genma took a few seconds to respond. She gazed at the side of his face as he tapped his teeth on his senbon.

"It's something about the Nishi clan, I think," he said.

"Oh..."

"There's something going on with that clan's leaders. My mom was telling me a little about it. Rumor is, there's a link between them and some old Goddess tale or something. None of us are supposed to talk about that stuff outside our families, but-"

Genma suddenly stopped. Nearby, they spotted Kanoko Nishi, a beautiful lady with long orange hair and a graceful walk.

"Who is that?" Shizune asked as she gripped his arm.

"That's the only surviving daughter of the Nishi clan leader who recently passed away. Her name is Lady Kanoko."

"Oh, I remember hearing about her from Lady Tsunade."

"She's a pretty lady," Genma said, "But they say that if you stare at her for too long, your eyes start to burn."

Shizune stared at Lady Kanoko as she passed many of the villagers. At that point, Kanoko's chakra had been greatly diminished because it had been sealed by Lord Third years before. Even so, that didn't make her presence any less threatening to many of the villagers.

"Why do they say that about her?" Shizune said, "She seems normal to me."

"Seeming and being are two different things," Genma said, "At least that's what my dad says. Our family is close to the Nishi clan, but even some people of my clan are suspicious of the Nishi. If it weren't for the Unknown Fire agreement, I don't know if we'd get along at all."

"The Unknown Fire agreement?" Shizune said. Genma smiled and shook his head.

"I don't know many details, but it's an agreement that has helped the Shiranui clan reduce tension between the village and the Nishi clan. It's really important that the agreement isn't broken."

Shizune took in all of the information that he gave her. They continued walking and Shizune changed the subject.

...

Genma's words had stuck in her mind back then and they all came flooding back to her years later as she paced the Hokage's hallway.

"The Unknown Fire agreement..." Shizune said once she snapped out of reflecting on her childhood memories. She looked at Lady Tsunade's closed door. As she walked down the hall she ran into Genma and Raido who were coming in for a guard shift.

"Hey, I was just looking for you," Shizune said to Genma.

"What am I not important, too?" Raido laughed.

"I want to ask you about the Unknown Fire agreement."

Genma and Raido exchanged looks. Shizune frowned, she sensed that there was a secret she'd have to wrestle out of Genma. Impulsively, she grabbed Genma's hand, pulled him into a vacant room, and slammed the door behind them.

"At least _they_ had the decency not to third-wheel me like Asuma and Kurenai used to," Raido sighed before continuing down the hall.

Shizune paced back and forth in the room before she spoke. Genma crossed his arms and sighed, waiting for her to start ranting.

"Lady Hokage is on her third chakra absorption cycle. I have to take her to the hospital to start the next one once that scroll is retrieved, but before I go, I want you to tell me everything you know about the Unknown Fire agreement. I mean everything! This is such a crucial moment, Genma, I can't belie-"

"Shizune..." he said in a firm voice that also had a hint of sweetness. For a moment she forgot her frustration and just looked at him. He closed his eyes and removed his senbon from his mouth. Anxiety filled Shizune.

"Go on," Shizune said, "Tell me."

"It's an agreement that keeps the peace between the village and the Nishi. This agreement allows my clan to act on behalf of the Nishi clan, and that's important to know, especially right now. When Lord Third extracted and sealed Lady Kanoko's powers, the agreement was amended and renewed. I didn't learn everything about it until I was about fifteen. That's the age when I..."

"Y-you what?"

"I learned I would be a part of the process that would allow the Nishi chakra to be transferred to another person under the Hokage's orders. I am a key part of the seventh and final chakra transfer. Heck, I may even be the most important part because that last amount has to come from me. I carry a massive portion of Lady Kanoko's true power. It's sealed so I can't use it but I'm going to have to give it all up to Lady Hokage when the time comes.

"So what? You're like...like Naruto? Like some kind of jinchuriki?"

Genma gave her a sad smile. Tears welled in Shizune's eyes. She knew what he'd say next.

"Yeah, something like that. And you and I both know...if the power within a jinchuriki is extracted..."

Shizune felt her throat tighten. Tears streamed down her face.

"N-no, no..." Shizune said, "No, Genma, no, no, no!"

She slumped to the floor and he dropped down as well to hold her in his arms.

"It's okay," Genma said, "Once this is done, Lady Hokage will be able to track and defeat Kichiro and Lady Kanoko's imposter and end all of this. She will eventually be able to recover the full power of the Goddess. All of that chakra will be in good hands."

Shizune sniffled.

"So it's you," Shizune said "You're the sacrifice."

He tilted his head down to look at her. Their faces were close and she moved her gaze from his eyes to his lips. Shizune noticed that it was one of the few times he was without his senbon. She pulled herself closer to him and almost pressed her lips against his, but stopped herself and bowed her head to rest against his chest instead. The tears were endless. She held him tightly in her arms, not wanting to accept the fact that she would soon never be able to hold him again.

—-

Shikamaru and Neji were well on their way to the Land of Water, but they had not gotten that far on their own. Naruto and Lee had caught Shikamaru and Neji as they were running to leave, and they had asked to join them. Neji at first refused to allow them to join, but Naruto begged to use his Sexy Jutsu to distract the guards at the gate so that they could escape. In brief, the plan worked.

"All right, where are we headed anyway?" Naruto said.

"Wherever Neji says we're headed, he's the only one who can track the girls because of the Hyuga charm," Shikamaru said, "Neji, do you see any potential obstacles ahead?"

"I can't say I do," Neji said, "But I have this feeling..."

They traveled mostly in silence for another three hours, and sensed nothing noteworthy. By the time they did sense something, there was no way to avoid this.

"_Naruto..._" the nine tailed beast within him growled, "_This chakra I'm sensing...something's coming. Your life is in danger._"

The feeling of doom hit Naruto and his friends at once. They stopped moving immediately.

Many meters ahead, Lady Kanoko grabbed hold of a tree trunk. She was disheveled, tired, and losing more control of her body with each passing second.

"Get out..." Lady Kanoko said through gritted teeth, "Get out of my head, right now!"

A blast of orange chakra came through her hand and shattered the tree she was holding. She staggered forward.

_Don't fight it, sister, I will soon have all of your power. If you give it to me voluntarily, I'll be sure to spare your life._

"Spare my life?" Kanoko chuckled weakly, "Aren't you bold. This power you desperately want...you can't handle it. You want to absorb all of my power that was sealed away, but you don't get it. Even if you do find and absorb the sealed chakra...you can't handle Goddess chakra, your soul...it's-."

_It's what, dear sister? Please continue to amuse me with your senseless rambling._

"Your soul is too...too fragile, my dear Yua." Kanoko said. In anger, Kanoko's sister, Yua, then suppressed most of Kanoko's consciousness.

"I'm taking over for now," Yua said through Kanoko's body, "I've had enough of your nonsense! You and father were always such fools, especially when it came to trusting people outside of our clan. You gave up so much of our power for those insignificant people who shun you to this day. Even your dear Tsunade distrusts you. It's a shame that I'll have to kill her with your hands. I'd much prefer to take her out with my own."

Yua moved Kanoko's possessed body forward. Kanoko's irises glowed gold as Yua controlled her.

She eventually landed near Naruto and his friends.

"She's just ahead of us," Neji said, "It's Lady Kanoko...no...no, this is someone entirely different."

"Ah, look at this. A perfect opportunity for me to train," Yua cracked her knuckles, "It's been a while."

Yua darted into their view with a crazed look.

"_Naruto..._" the tailed beast inside of him said again, "_This enemy is too powerful for you...I could give you my power..._"

"No, that's not happening," Naruto said, "Look, I don't know who the hell you are or what you've done to Granny Kanoko, but you're not getting beyond this point."

Rock Lee assumed a fighting stance. After recovering from a brief shock, Shikamaru studied the woman before them, and began working out a few strategies in his head.

"Do what you want, child," Yua smiled in a way that did not suit Kanoko's gentle face, "You're no more of an opponent to me than the falling leaves!"

Naruto charged at her with the Rasengan but stopped when a huge orange tinted barrier appeared before him. Hinata and Yumi had erected the barrier and suddenly appeared before Lady Yua.

"He's right," Hinata said, "You're not getting beyond this point. The two of us will make sure of that."

The male Leaf shinobi stood stunned outside of the barrier.

"No, the four of us will make sure of that!" A blonde girl resembling Naruto appeared next to Hinata, which shocked everyone except Yua. Sakumaru appeared immediately after her.

The blonde girl, who was none other than Narumi Uzumaki, had put her hair in a high ponytail like her deceased mother used to do before setting out on missions. Although she looked like her mother, she was dedicated to protecting the Leaf village like her father had, even if the Leaf village she was protecting was not her own.

"Who are you guys?" Yumi said.

"Long story, but we're allies," Narumi said, "Kakashi sent us because he sensed Lady Kanoko was in distress here."

"Turns out he was right," Saku said, "Look at her eyes."

"She is not as distressed as you all are going to be," Yua growled.

Yua formed an orange energy sphere in her hand and lunged toward Narumi. Just then, Hinata jumped between Narumi and Yua and kicked away the hand which held the sphere.

"Art of the Goddess: Seven Spears Jutsu!" Hinata struck Yua quickly several times causing Yua to fly back into a nearby tree.

"How was that?" Hinata asked Yumi.

"Good, maybe almost as good as Yoiko's," Yumi said.

"I don't know who that is," Narumi said as she ran toward Yua to hit her with a much larger, reddish-orange colored Rasengan, "But you're going down!"

"Is that-is that nine tails and Goddess chakra?" Saku said before quickly turning to the others, "Everyone scatter!"

Hinata, Yumi, and Sakumaru split up. When the Rasengan landed, hundreds of trees were obliterated and smoked blinded almost everyone. The barrier was unaffected.

"What is going on here?" Rock Lee said.

"I can't say for sure, but our comrades are certainly in trouble," Neji replied.

"Then we need to get in there!" Naruto said. They all looked at Shikamaru.

"Give me a few seconds, I'll get us inside. But once we get in, there's no holding back. We got to give it everything we got."

Yua let out a cry that shook the ground beneath them.

"You little wench," she said, "Prepare to die!"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: This Power of Mine

_Hello...it's me, Kanoko._

_Before I am sent into the darkness, I would like you to know about my life. I want to tell you everything that has made me who I am before I am no more._

I was born to an elite family and began learning ninjutsu at a young age. My father, who was my first teacher, taught me how to infuse chakra and make tiny fireballs appear on the tips of my fingers. As great as a teacher as he was, he couldn't always handle me and my unusual power on his own. Sometimes I would get too excited and flames would gather at my feet as I ran across the open field near our home.

At other times, I'd pick up some household item, such as a teacup or a plate and watch in horror as it would explode in my hand.

"Be careful, Kanoko," he would say, "You'll upset your mother if you keep making messes like this."

I'd often watch the blood drip from where the broken item cut my hand. I'd watch it for the few seconds it took for my body to heal itself. My father would remind me of how to hold these items with care, how to never be too excited because that would make my chakra become hard to manage. It would make me difficult.

My mother was not a fan of my power itself, but she did consider our house blessed. My being the host of the Goddess of Fire's chakra was an honor to her, but when she saw me weave hands or heard me talk about jutsu, she always frowned. The power had been passed to me from my grandmother and it had skipped mother entirely. I guess mother just didn't understand what it felt like to hold something like that inside. To house a burning flame at all times.

My siblings also had their own opinions of me. I had one brother and two sisters. My brother was the eldest, I was born four years after him, then Yua, who was two years my junior, and then five years after me came our youngest sister, Aoi was born.

My brother was tough and he wanted me to be tough, too. He would take me to train with him right after he would pick me up from the academy. He made me value my strength and that countered my parents cautiousness. But when he died on a mission, I went back to being afraid to even touch a teacup.

Aoi loved my power, she would always consider me the lucky one. Aoi would often ask me to show her a new jutsu, but then she would become frightened by it. I saw awe and fear in here, a combination I would see often throughout my life. But Aoi held my hand on my worst days, and for that I will be eternally grateful. And then there was Yua.

Yua simply loved me.

And it broke my heart when she no longer did, but I'll say more about her later.

After two years of being a genin, I passed the chunin exams at twelve-years-old. Shortly after, I learned many hard lessons about the shinobi world. One of those lessons was that you can't always save your friends. Like my brother, my teammates died on missions. One was accidentally killed by an ally when delivering a message, although I doubt it was truly an accident. The other died trying to protect a comrade from a trap set by an enemy. The memories of my teammates would remain in my heart forever.

Naturally, I was deeply saddened by the loss of my friends. Then my sensei died and I felt tremendous despair. I became slower than before, and detached from everyone else. I was already misunderstood and feared by others at that point, but my friends had distracted me from the harsh glares and rumors spread about me by others in our village.

My father was concerned about my persistent sadness, and my mother warned me to watch my mood. If I were to lose control of my emotions, I would become susceptible to the attacks of people who had been waiting for the right moment to take my power. She also worried that even if no enemies made a move to attack me, my emotional state would make me volatile.

The Nishi elders also noticed my changed demeanor and they demanded that my parents lock me away until they could find a solution to the problem that was me.

I was restricted to my home for three months and grew more agitated with each passing day. One day, the very thing they feared would happen occurred when my mother called me for dinner. I had sunken into a deep depression and constantly wondered why it was my fate to be so isolated. I stormed into the room where my family gathered, and my mother ordered me to take a seat. She didn't even look at me when she gave her instruction. No one even glanced my way.

"No," I said.

"Kanoko, please, just take a seat," She said, still not even bothering to make eye contact. "Try eating something, it will help you get out of this mood you've been in."

"I said no," my voice trembled, "No. I won't eat, I'm not hungry. I haven't been hungry, who knows if I'll ever be hungry again!"

"Kanoko, listen to your mother," my father said as he ate his rice, "I know you're upset, but until your mood returns to normal you must stay in house and you must obey the rules."

Something shifted in me then. My frustration caused my chest to burn, and I could feel the Goddess energy quickly coursing through my body. It became clear to me that they couldn't truly keep me in the house, that no one could really confine me. _I_ had the power. My chakra became visible then, and it appeared as an orange glow around my body.

My sister, Aoi, got up to calm me down, but instinctively, I pushed her away. What I intended to be a light push, was more than that. I had thrown my poor sister across the room into the wall, knocking her unconscious. All were eyes were on me then.

My father moved to try to stop me, but everyone knew he couldn't. I ran out of the house and passed our neighbors on the way out of our clan's gate. Before I could get there, several elders stopped me.

"Child, why must you behave like this?" One elder said, "This is unacceptable! You are embarrassing your parents and endangering all others in our clan. What is the meaning of this?"

Tears streamed down my face, as I choked on my words. I wanted to say something dignified and to explain myself in a powerful voice.

"I'm sad!" Was all I managed to say.

The Goddess power gave me the speed I needed to run away immediately after. As I sprinted through the village, my chakra broke the ground beneath my feet, which made me easy to track. A young boy who was new to the village saw me, and for whatever reason, decided to follow close behind me.

"Wait!" he called after me. I soon attracted the attention of Master Hiruzen and his students. I was heading past them and through my tears, I saw Tsunade. We had been friends earlier in life, but lost that connection for a few years. As I passed, I could feel her energy connect to mine. She knew I was in trouble.

"Kanoko, where are you going?" she said, "What are you running from?"

For a moment, I wanted to stop and answer her, but I kept going. Eventually, I reached the edge of a training ground. I turned to see Tsunade and the blue haired new boy heading my way. Behind them were my clan elders, Master Sarutobi and his other students, and my parents.

"Don't move!" One of the elders said to me, "If you dare to move a muscle, you'll face a punishment harsher than anything you could have ever dream of!"

Tsunade turned to him and the others approaching us.

"No! Back up!" She stomped the ground, shattering it with ease and sent several people flying back, "I'd like to see you try to punish me!"

The elders yelled at Tsunade as Jiraiya cheered and Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head. I saw my parents crying and pleading with me, but everyone seemed far away. Then the new boy spoke up.

"I don't know what happened, but it couldn't be that bad. She's upset, that's not a crime, is it?" The boy turned and looked at me with a smile on his face.

Everyone grew quiet.

_It's not a crime...I'm not a crime._

I stood up and felt more secure. I wiped my face as I walked toward Tsunade and the boy.

"Thank you both," I put my hand out to the area where Tsunade had broken the ground. Channeling my energy, I mended it.

"Perhaps now we can all handle this issue with reason and care," Master Hiruzen said.

After that incident, my clan had discussed the issue with the Hokage. At only thirteen, I was considered a tremendous source of unstable power, but my clan elders treated me with slightly more respect after they saw that I was capable of mending the training ground. I could heal as much as I could hurt and that mattered.

Tsunade began watching over me, Orochimaru would make the occasional comment about my power, and Jiraiya would...well, he would be his usual, perverted self. And the new boy with the blue hair would care for, protect and eventually marry me.

Hiroshi. That was his name. He was from the Hidden Mist so Leaf villagers also did not trust him. Maybe that was why he defended me so often. He was one of the few who truly understood me.

Years later, there was a war. Aoi was assigned to a medical unit so she did not fight and our clan elders instructed Yua to only go to areas where the fighting was not very intense. Because the Nishi were known to have gathered information about our enemies from our constant missions, our clan members were often targeted and held hostage. To prevent kidnapping, the Nishi did not typically battle in areas with many people. I was an exception due to my massive chakra reserve and ability to takedown foes in an instant. Luckily long before the war, I had already taught Aoi and Yua our clan's chakra manipulation jutsu and even gave them a portion of the Goddess chakra in case they were attacked by a powerful foe. Of the fighting Nishi, Yua was one of the most amazing on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, this chakra, the chakra of the Goddess of Fire, eventually burned its way through anyone who used it. After battling many enemies on the front lines, I could feel a strange aching in my bones. I had exhausted my body, and the bitter side of the Goddess energy almost took over me. Soon I stopped using jutsu and stuck to basic shinobi tactics. Doing that didn't win me any medals, but it did allow me to take control of myself again.

Yua was another case. She became so obsessed with controlling the Goddess chakra that she didn't see that it was controlling her. Whenever I had the chance and the battles weren't too heavy, I would visit her on her battleground. She and I would train, but she always tried to rush the process. She had grown impatient and pushy and I was beginning to dislike her. Eventually, we stopped hugging and just departed with a few words before going back into battle.

When the war ended, I thought our strange feud was over. I tried to tell her to rest a while before attempting to infuse chakra, but she ignored me, and would only train with Aoi.

One day, when I was heading to instruct Aoi, Yua confronted me.

"What, you're teaching her on my day now?" Yua said. Her face had changed. I tried to calm her down and explain myself, but she continued to lash out at me. I was also growing agitated due to the overuse of the Goddess chakra. I kept myself together until she shoved me, and the little restraint I had was gone. As she turned to walk away I slammed the back of her head forward which sent her way into the field near our clan's section of the village.

When she got up, I ran over to her. I'm not proud of what I did, and I don't want to be seen as a saint, but my theories about her were true. She was too greedy and too arrogant to properly handle even a small portion of the Goddess of Fire's power I gave her. She hated too easily, and that made her susceptible to experiencing the type of violent rage that came with handling that powerful chakra.

We exchanged blows that bent trees and whipped around the wind. Frankly, she was a great fighter. But I was better. In the middle of our battle Aoi came running across that field to intervene. She stopped me first.

"Elder sister," she said through tears, "Please, I know what your power can do, don't do this!"

She grabbed my hands. I didn't know it then, but both of them had been siphoning my power even before the war. Yua revealed this to me recently. They had been working together to manipulate my chakra, and I had taught them the technique they used to do it without thinking about the consequences. I could not have known that Aoi was plotting against me as she held my hands then, but I did begin to distrust her as I distrusted Yua and my whole clan.

I distanced myself from my family and focused only on Hiroshi, who was the shining star of my life. We soon left the village to go on the kind of espionage missions my clan was known for, but I grew bored with them, and later decided to become a writer. During my travels, I researched the mythology of different regions for inspiration. I was shocked to read about the myths about the grand deity whose power I held within my mortal body.

The Goddess is wrath itself, is what stories told me. But there was more to her than that. I didn't interact with her personally, but I could feel that she had moments of peace and I could also feel the effects of the many heartbreaks she had suffered at the hands of mortals. She was demonized and hurt as I was, and I didn't want any other woman to feel rejected and upset about her own power like I did.

That's when I began planning the Leaf kunoichi training program. I wrote a letter proposing my idea for the program to Master Hiruzen who was Hokage at the time, and I hoped that he would understand my vision. He responded saying that he would consider it. If he didn't, there was one other person who I could trust to understand the importance of the program, and that person was Tsunade.

There was a time when she and I were inseparable before the war. The loss of her brother and lover caused her to drift away from the rest of the world, and she had taken to gambling and drinking. Even at her lowest point, I trusted Tsunade more than my own clan, my own family.

My clan knew of my distrust of them and they followed me for years. Whenever I encountered a fellow clan member, we were cordial and friendly on the surface. That changed when I encountered both of my sisters on the way back from visiting a village to promote my most recent novel.

Aoi and Yua stopped me before I reached a small farming village where I was to meet Hiroshi. They urged me to return to the village, saying that there were enemies seeking me out and that I could only be safe in the Leaf. I didn't believe them, of course. There was no truly safe place for me. So we fought.

I tired myself out by battling them both for hours. Their chakra absorption jutsu has greatly improved, much to my surprise. I delivered my last powerful attack on Yua. The final hit exposed my vulnerability. I lost control of myself and tears streamed down my face as I thought of their betrayal and my own isolation. My anger was the strongest it had ever been, and Yua had absorbed much of it when I struck her. My terrible emotions, my loneliness, and another portion of my power. I let her have all of it. She and I fell to our knees and then held one hand on the other's shoulder, trying to catch our breath and preserve our own life.

"Look...look at what you've done!" Yua said, barely holding herself up. We sounded like children then.

"Look at what you made me do," I responded, in an equally childish manner.

Aoi limped toward both of us. Yua reached her free hand back and told Aoi to stop.

"Elder sisters, please, this has gone too far!" I could tell that she was being genuine that time.

"Stay back, you fool!" Yua growled. I could see the gold glow of the untamed power in Yua's eyes. That confirmed that she had certainly absorbed some of the worst of me.

"No, I won't," Aoi said, "I won't leave you both to kill one another. This has to stop!"

"Aoi I said-" Yua had thrusted her hand back to shoo Aoi away and out from her hand shot a beam of energy. I saw it shoot out like a star across the sky. Aoi fell back and clenched the reddened shirt on her bleeding chest. My anger was reborn.

Yua and I staggered over to our dying sister's body.

_Oh, Aoi, my dear Aoi! How could she have fallen before my eyes? How could I have failed to save her?_

"You did this to her, you...you!" I said. My body ran hot and it began to heal itself in just a few seconds. Yua and I locked eyes. If I had stayed any longer, I would have torn Yua apart. I used the sudden boost of adrenaline to run away.

I sent a coded message to my husband to meet in a different village, one further away from the Leaf. I wrote to Tsunade. I didn't tell her everything in writing, only that my sister had passed away, and that I needed her help. She and I had met in a quiet town near the Land of Lightning a few weeks later. There I revealed the full story. She listened and asked questions.

"Have you had a medical examination since that incident?" Tsunade said.

"No, I don't think I need one," I said, "I have jutsu to heal my body, you know that."

Tsunade sighed.

"Focus your energy on healing your soul," she said. She took me back to the Hidden Leaf to examine me with a team of medical nin. There she learned that I had not only was my body slow to recover, but my chakra network had been damaged severely.

As you can guess, that wasn't the final blow.

When Hiroshi came to visit me, I felt some hope. He told me about the rumors that Tsunade had kept from me after I begged him to. According to a rumor, my sister, Aoi, was supposedly attacked by a rival nation that wanted to strike us before we struck them. The fact was Aoi was dead and Yua was gone. The "why" didn't matter to others, but it did matter to me.

Before I left again, Tsunade encouraged me to seal my powers.

"This Goddess power could complicate things for you emotionally," Tsunade said, "Please consider sealing a portion of it. Let the village help you carry this heavy load."

I listened to her, but I wasn't ready to cut down my power when my body was so vulnerable. During that stay in the village, my parents didn't even visit me. I believe they knew the truth about what happened, somehow their spirits could tell. I only stuck around to begin the kunoichi training program with Lord Third's help, but rumors about the danger of powers resurfaced, and the elder advisors of the Leaf cautioned Lord Hiruzen against allowing the program to continue.

The program had run for a few months and was promising, but the efforts of Danzo and those other two bags of bones ended it. They claimed they were concerned that my power would have a bad influence on the young kunoichi. I argued my case, but it got me nowhere, so I did what I thought was best at the time. I wrote my ideas down and sold them in the form of my guidebook so that some young girl somewhere could hear my words without the threat of me potentially scorching her soul.

Nearly a year had passed before I released the guidebook. Hiroshi and I had left the Leaf village to promote it, and though my body was mostly healed, my chakra didn't flow as it used to. I was fragile, and irritable, but I told myself that I just had to push through it.

And I did until...

I lost Hiroshi.

We were walking together as the sun came through the leaves. I remember laughing with him about a critical review of one of my books. I remember seeing his warm, smiling face.

Then I sensed them, and they came closer, and then we were surrounded. I couldn't believe my body didn't react sooner, that I couldn't stop the barrage of attacks with ease like I had before.

My mind raced, and my heart beat hard against my ribs. I have never felt a fear that could rival the fear I felt that day.

The next thing I saw was Hiroshi laying in his own blood. His smile faded and once it was gone, a piece of me died as well. The power I unleashed on our attackers was ungodly. To this day, a fire burns on that portion of land once a year on the anniversary of his death.

I had no more mercy for the world that had cursed me. When everything around me had turned to blood and ash, I knelt by my lover for the final time and cried. Then came the rain.

It was the first time my medical ninjutsu failed to heal someone. Tsunade was right.

I promptly returned to the Leaf Village to seal my powers.

I traveled back to the Leaf like a walking corpse to meet with her and Lord Third. We made an arrangement, and Lord Third let me know that the procedure was safe and that other Nishi with my power had undergone it successfully. We spoke to my clan elders and the Shiranui clan about the standing agreement. We had the Hyuga medical nin work on identifying my chakra points and ensuring my chakra network would not be completely destroyed during the procedure.

When it was all over, I was considerably weaker, but most of my negative emotions had left my body along with the Goddess's chakra.

I went on with life as usual, and made plans to leave the village once again for the final time. Then I encountered Kushina Uzumaki.

"Lady Kanoko!" she had run after me as I neared the gate, "I'm so glad I caught up to you."

"Kushina! It's been a long time," I turned to face her, "How are you, dear?"

I had known Kushina ever since she had moved to the Leaf and become the Nine Tails' jinchuriki. When I looked into her eyes that day, I saw a light that had faded from my own eyes.

"I'm great!" Kushina said, "It really has been a long time since we've seen each other, huh? Oh, I just wanted to ask you..."

She pulled out a book from a bag on her shoulder. It was my guidebook.

"I don't want to hold you back, but could you please sign this for me? I sort of wish you had written this sooner, so that I could have read it as a little girl. So that I won't feel so weird about being a jin...about being different, you know? You're really an inspiration to me, Lady Kanoko. Thank you. Thank you so much!"

I signed the book and gave her a hug. I could sense the Nine Tailed Fox's presence inside her and I know she must've felt the faint, strange energy in me as well. At that moment, neither of us felt any fear.

Because of that encounter with Kushina, I decided not to leave the village permanently. Instead, I decided to reconnect with the Goddess, but on a deeper level than before. As I traveled, I would meditate at several of the Goddess's shrines and eventually she would appear in her physical form to speak to me on several occasions. I gained more knowledge about her past and she came to trust me. She was the one who told me just months ago that she foresaw a dark force silently drawing closer to me with each day, trying to take me over. I didn't actually sense or communicate with Yua until it was too late.

I'm telling you all of this because you once asked me to be completely honest with you. This is my story. But even if it ends here, I don't want my dream to die.

As for Katsu...there is a family in the Mist who can tell you all about him. I don't want to waste my mental energy on such a lowlife, but the Minazuki clan elder can guide you on how to handle him. Just show them the bracelet I gave you when I taught you that jutsu. Let the girls handle the rest, they are more capable than you know. And they even have allies this world has never seen.

This is all that I have the time to convey to you, but please use this knowledge to save as much as the world as possible. And don't just read "Kichiro's" books, mine have answers as well.

_You are now the one I trust most in this world. I'm counting on you..._

_...Kakashi Hatake._


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: The Battle to Protect

_Who goes there?_

After the Goddess bomb shook both heaven and earth, a cloud of smoke filled the tower. Then, there was the almost endless silence. Then came the light.

The jutsu broke the tall, white pillar and most of its pieces had turned to large chunks of debris that slowly shifted around inside of the sacred tower. No one had lost their lives, but no one was unharmed either. Only the sword of the deity remained in its original position.

Yasu had protected her comrade kunoichi under the shield of the Goddess which she had acquired from Lord Kichiro. She did not protect them because she cared for them, but because she saw protecting as her duty to her lord. Kichiro wanted his kunoichi to at least have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in battle, if only for a few minutes, before they died.

Tenten and Ino stood on the platform with their backs to the Goddess's sword. Several cuts and bruises decorated Tenten's body, but only Ino's hands had taken any damage.

"_Gotta work on my chakra control_," Ino thought to herself as she tried to catch her breath. Everyone seemed to understand the same thing; the next person to speak would signal the beginning of a battle.

Tenten looked up as the smoke cleared out through the hole in the tower. She then slowly walked to the edge of what had been the platform of the large, white pillar. Tenten then looked down among a few debris stones to see the enlarged shield her enemies were taking cover under.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Tenten said as she spoke down to the ones beneath the deity's shield, "There are two of us and about ten of you guys. There's nothing to be afraid of. If anything, we should be afraid of you."

Tenten raised her head back up to give Ino a go-time look. The shield then shot up far into the air, almost exiting through the opening in the top of the tower.

"_Keep your eyes on them, I'll back you up_," Ino communicated to Tenten.

Kichiro's kunoichi soon leapt back up on the platform, but by that point, Tenten had already had her kama in hand. Tenten's kama blazed orange as she spun it around in preparation for her attack. Three kunoichi attacked her first while the others looked for an opening. Yasu caught the shield which had fallen back down into her hand. Ino stood back as she prepared to use another jutsu.

Tenten flipped around the attacking kunoichi with ease. She could sense their commitment to beat her, but she knew they would miss no matter how they would decide to swing. She swung her kama around them and before they could blink, she had wrapped the three of them up in the kama's chain. With a graceful backflipped, she swung the chain over her head and released them from it. In doing so, Tenten had flung the three enemies into the bottom of the tower, which at that point resembled an abyss.

_Fighting? In my place of rest?_

Yasu kept her distance as another kunoichi ran toward Tenten with a sword in hand. Tenten swung the kama around the girl's hand before the girl could even raise her sword all the way up. Tenten then pulled the shocked kunoichi toward her by tugging on the chain of the kama and kicked the girl in her stomach before swinging her off of the platform into the darkness below.

"That's four. Ino, are they landing okay?" Tenten said.

"Yeah, they're suspended near the bottom, don't worry," The bomb jutsu Ino used earlier had not only shook the entire island, but it also gave her control over the area inside the tower. For a limited amount of time, Ino could manipulate everything in the tower from the broken pieces of the white pillar to the bodies of the enemy kunoichi.

As another wave of kunoichi attacked, Ino raised her arm in their direction, and with a flick of her wrist, she knocked several of the enemies out which caused them to stumble back and off of the platform.

With only a few kunoichi left on her side, Yasu decided to strike.

With the shield back to its original size, Yasu ran toward them with her usual, neutral expression. She chose not to use her own sword at that time.

"Art of the Goddess: Scatter!" Yasu said.

_How dare you..._

Ino grabbed Tenten just before they were knocked back and off of the platform. Ino control their landing and put herself and Tenten on a piece of pillar near the middle of the tower. The power of the Goddess's shield had interfered with their chakra networks, and it took them a moment to recover from the dizziness. Ino could sense Sakura getting closer and turned to Tenten.

"They're fifteen others besides Sakura and Kichiro approaching right now. We got to kick up our power. Remember the lessons of the second rebirth?"

"Yeah, the one on speed. How could I forget that, I almost died permanently," Tenten responded.

"Yes, we're going to increase our speed, and attack again," Ino said, "Also, unless we get that shield, our attacks won't work against their little squad leader. Ugh, there's so much to think about!"

"Don't worry, just stay focused and keep your mind connected to mine," Tenten said, "And no matter what, do not stop moving. The genjutsu caster is definitely going to play some mind games with us. Keep the Goddess chakra speeding through your body and we should be able to break any genjutsu she hits us with."

"And Sakura and the others, we need to factor them into this," Ino said.

Tenten thought for a moment and then looked at the platform above.

"I'm going after the sword," Tenten said.

_Here you are in my place of rest, without invitation...you scum._

Before Ino could protest, Tenten made the hand signs that allowed her to increase her speed. She then jumped to climb the pieces of pillar to get back to the platform.

As expected, Yasu had casted a genjutsu that would disrupt their sense of space and time. As Tenten climbed, the platform appeared to be getting further and further away. Ino, who was following behind her, noticed the same thing. Ino broke the genjutsu's control over her senses, and then used the limited telekinetic power the Goddess's bomb jutsu gave her to propel both of them up to the platform. This move also freed Tenten from the genjutsu.

_Such disrespect, what a disgrace..._

When they both landed on the platform, they were surprised to find three Sakuras ahead of them. Tenten and Ino had been caught in two different genjutsu, a weak one that had distorted their perception of distance and a much stronger one that duplicated the image of their friend. The absence of the shield made it difficult for them to identify Yasu among the Sakuras. The Sakuras looked very realistic and the second genjutsu was not broken immediately despite Tenten and Ino's attempts to release it. The two did not have time to be confused by what they were seeking, they just had to keep moving.

The first Sakura to attack swung at Ino, but Ino's speed helped her avoid getting hit. Ino took on that Sakura and a second one, while Tenten faced-off with a third. Tenten threw a scroll up in the air and summoned a long brown staff that soon became covered in flames. Tenten charged toward one Sakura, who countered the hits of the staff with her bare hands.

Despite her speed, Ino soon received many blows to the body from her fight with the two Sakura. Each hit that landed on her seemed to hurt more than the one before it. Even so, Ino was able to keep fighting. Tenten attempted to break the genjutsu again, but failed once more.

"_We need more power"_, Tenten thought. She then communicated that thought to Ino using their telepathic link. Their close range fighting made it difficult for them to move up another power level, and they attempted to create a distance between them and their foes to weave the necessary hand signs.

Suddenly, everything stopped. All fighters on the platform froze as something shifted in the darkness below them.

_How disgraceful._

They heard her before they saw her. A loud echoing yell of a kunoichi traveled up inside of the tower to the platform. Ino felt a sharp pain in her stomach and Tenten's heated body cooled down in an instant. A new energy filled the tower and it was deadly.

The false Sakuras faded away and made room for the real one. The Leaf's latest rogue ninja appeared before them. She had leapt from way down in the darkness onto the platform with a frightening ease.

"Hello," the original Sakura Haruno said. Her voice was cold and a hood obscured her face, "It's nice to see you both. Shall we begin?"

Sakura threw back her hood to reveal her face. Her neck was covered in tattoos, one of which was a curse mark that Ino and Tenten did not even see because it was hidden under the ink on her neck.

Yasu and the remaining couple of kunoichi made themselves visible, and stood near the original Sakura.

Ino and Tenten didn't move.

"_So, should we revisit Rebirth Lesson Five?_" Ino asked telepathically.

"_Oh, you don't even have to ask_," Tenten responded.

Sakura threw open her cloak to retrieve the other Goddess shield that had been in Kichiro's possession. He had given it to her after she had brought him his "souvenir". He had also given her a gift of her own in the form of a curse mark which he had put on Sakura with the help of Lord Orochimaru's associate, Karin. Karin had acted in Orochimaru's absence to stabilize Sakura as Kichiro applied the mark, and Kichiro was satisfied with the results. Tenten and Ino, however, were far from satisfied with the Sakura they saw standing before them.

_A shame. How dare you..._

Ino and Tenten jumped back off of the platform to the surprise of their opponents. The jump created a distance that would allow them to weave the proper hand signs to power up again.

"_Saku's Kakashi, if you can hear me, please help us out in any way you can_," Ino sent that psychic message to the Kakashi in Kanoko's time-space. Then, she and Tenten activated the jutsu that sharply increased their speed and strength. Immediately, Ino and Tenten flew back into the platform ready to fight. An orange light surrounded their bodies, and they charged their enemies.

When Sakura and Ino exchanged blows, the platform cracked in several places and the other kunoichi stumbled around.

_What's this? A familiar scene..._

Tenten looked at the sword encased in the orange glass. For some reason, she felt as though it was calling her name, and she became even more determined not to leave without it.

For a second, her focus on the grand sword almost made her forget her enemies, who were now increasing in number thanks to Kichiro's arrival. The boss himself had not made an appearance, but Tenten knew he was lurking below in the shadows.

Tenten used her nunchaku, which she made just as fiery as the staff, to fight her way through a line of kunoichi. She fought them off swiftly, that was until she clashed with Yasu, who stopped her attack with the Goddess's shield she possessed. Tenten moved swiftly to avoid another clash with Yasu. After Tenten had defeated the last of the seemingly nameless kunoichi Kichiro had sent up, just she, Sakura, Ino, and Yasu remained at the top.

Their movements were too fast for the naked eye to see. Even so, Tenten and Ino's attacks were consistently blocked by the shields, and their own weapons, even though they were infused with the Goddess's chakra, became ineffective.

Luckily, the Kakashi in Kanoko's time-space had already sensed that they needed help.

"Severe Leaf Hurricane!" they heard a voice from above them say. Just then, a kunoichi in a green jumpsuit came speeding in from the hole in the tower top.

"Wait, is that-" Tenten began.

"It is me! Ruby Lee!" the kunoichi said, "The Hidden Leaf village's Beautiful Blue Blossom!"

Ruby Lee landed a kick on Sakura that was so intense, it put several more cracks in the breaking platform. Ino and Tenten stood wide-eyed.

_Where did this one come from, I wonder._

"Don't be so surprised that you forget to be on your guard," the voice of a young man said. Tenten and Ino turned their heads slightly to see a tall young man with short, dark blue hair. It wasn't Kichiro. This young man possessed the Byakugan.

"No way," Ino said, "You're-"

"Hiroto," the young man said, "But that's not important right now. Get ready, Ruby Lee!"

"I am already ready," Ruby said. Quickly, Hiroto faded from their view and Ruby Lee opened the Gate of Pain. By the time Hiroto reappeared, he had disabled all of Yasu's chakra points. She fell to the ground, and screamed out in frustration. Ino could sense Kichiro approaching the platform.

At first, Tenten was too shocked to move, but Ino urged her to snap back into action. Ruby Lee and Ino engaged Sakura at their enhanced speed, and Sakura was having difficulty keeping up with their attacks. Tenten lunged toward the sacred sword, hoping to smash the glass with her fiery nunchaku. Unfortunately, she was not the only one who desired to reach the sword at that moment. Lord Kichiro had teleported himself to the location at the same time.

_This man...what a strange aura._

"You're a bit of a slow one, aren't you," Kichiro said to Tenten. Hiroto grabbed Tenten and moved her back as Tenten flung her fiery nunchaku at Kichiro. Kichiro caught the nunchaku and absorbed the Goddess chakra in them before breaking them with one hand.

"Thank you," he laughed "you are quite generous for an enemy."

Ino was distracted by Kichiro's sudden appearance and almost took a hit to the face from Sakura. Ruby Lee managed to block that hit, and Ino refocused on her own fight.

"Now, enough playing around, children," Kichiro said, "It is time for me to collect what is owed to me. Yasu, shame on you! I'll deal with you in just a moment."

Yasu struggled to try and lift herself up, but could not succeed. Although, frustrated, she would not cry. She could not cry.

"M-my, my lord," she said faintly. Disappointment and embarrassment flooded her body.

Tenten went to charge Kichiro again, but then Hiroto stopped her.

"Don't," Hiroto said, leaning down to whisper to her, "Let him dig his own grave here, he doesn't know what he's up against."

They watched as Kichiro placed his hand on the glass around the sword.

"Oh, great Goddess, I have but one request..."

_I have had enough of this._

Several beams of light shot from the glass, blinding all of the shinobi. A humanoid figure made of flames appeared where the sword had been.

"You mortals, why do you disturb my rest?" the figure exclaimed in a booming, feminine voice.

Although Ino could not see, she could sense the bodies around her. She took advantage of the brief moment Sakura was off guard to send her flying back and down off of the platform with a single kick. Hiroto was able to use his Byakugan to see the chakra of the being before them, but even he could not look at her for very long.

"Goddess!" Kichiro said, "I am blessed to be in your presence. I am here because I wish to request your power. I intend to renew this world, and I can only do so with your assistance. I ask that you lend me your strength so that I may carry out my mission."

The figure of fire looked at Kichiro for a moment.

"You...you smell," the figure said, "And you appear to be of the Land of Water. Though I reside in this land, I am not the one you should seek. In truth, I am not a Goddess, but a guardian of hers. I serve her and her alone. Also in truth, you are not worthy of even an ounce of the power I possess. Your arrogance offends me. Be gone."

The guardian swung her hand, and everyone on the platform flew off of it. The force of her swing made a large hole in the tower wall and, against his will, Kichiro exited through it. The other shinobi who flew from the platform fell downward into the dark, except for Tenten who had channeled all of the Goddess chakra within her into her feet.

"Please!" Tenten said, "We don't want to offend you. My mission isn't to use your power, actually, I want to help preserve it."

The guardian stared down at Tenten. Her flames became less intense, but Tenten still could not look at her directly.

"How shameful. You? Am I to believe a weak soul like you could protect anything that belongs to my Mother Goddess? Am I to believe that you have any sort of true power?"

"I can and I have," Tenten continued, "The Goddess of Fire's chakra is within me. But that's not all."

Tenten reached to retrieve the scroll with the burnt edges which held the Goddess of Fire's chakra.

"I've had this for a while now, and I think this might help me make my case."

She weaved hand signs slowly. Then, it emerged.

A fire dragon shot up from the scroll with a roar. It moved its massive body around the inner tower, and then rested its head on the platform.

"Please hear me," Tenten said, "I read that each of the other Goddesses have guardians and those guardians are responsible for watching over beasts made from Goddess chakra. I've held on to this one for months, but I think it's time I handed it over."

The fire dragon exhaled smoke and nudged Tenten's body affectionately. The guardian let several long seconds pass before she responded.

"This is not for me to care for," the guardian finally said, "This beast appears to be born of a jutsu that only required its limited use. It should have disappeared soon after it was used to attack an opponent. Not even a scroll should have been able to capture its essence and maintain it for so long. Only guardians tend to be able to hold on to such things."

Tenten gulped. She was not sure if the guardian was impressed or disgusted.

"My weapon actually absorbed it originally, then I sealed that weapon in a scroll and-...not that that matters."

"Hmm," the guardian said, "Well, mortal, perhaps you are not as weak as you appear. But there is only one way to know for certain if you truly are worthy."

The Goddess shrunk down to Tenten's size and took on Tenten's physical appearance.

"Battle me, and we shall see what type of being you truly are," the guardian said.

Tenten stood up, finally able to look directly at the guardian because she had taken on a form exactly like Tenten's. The guardian revealed the encased sacred sword and broke it out of the orange glass so that she could use it as a weapon.

Tenten jumped over to pick up the Goddess's shield that Yasu had used. She made the hand signs for the tenth rebirth jutsu before summoning her fiery staff once again. Tenten then absorbed all of the massive dragon's chakra into the staff. Finally, she was ready.

Wasting no time, Tenten and the guardian ran at each other with the intent to kill. When their weapons struck each other for the first time, the force of that strike disintegrated the tower walls completely. After they had destroyed the tower, the whole island became their battleground.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: A Change in Chakra

Shizune stood over Lady Tsunade who lay sleeping in her hospital bed. Tsunade's youthful jutsu was no longer in effect which meant that she appeared as an old woman as her body adapted to the Goddess chakra. As promised, Shizune was there to watch over Lady Hokage, but she couldn't help but think of Genma who held the last amount of chakra the Hokage needed to complete the process. Tears streamed down Shizune's face, and when a single tear drop landed on Tsunade's arm, the Hokage stirred.

"Shizune..." Tsunade said as she opened her eyes, "I-"

"Don't speak," Shizune said, "Just rest, please just rest."

Tsunade frowned. She then began to cough and Shizune turned to grab a cup of water for Tsunade to drink.

"I-" the coughing continued, "I don't-"

"Lady Tsunade, please be at ease," Shizune said, "Don't speak."

"I-I don't think this chakra absorption thing was a good idea," Tsunade said, "As tough as I am, I don't..."

Tsunade closed her eyes and breathed heavily. Shizune was overcome by fear and her hands shook as she touched Tsunade's arm.

"Shizune...I don't think I'll make it...this was all a mistake."

Shizune backed away from the Hokage slowly. Her chest tightened as she tried to suppress her scream.

Lady Tsunade's breathing became more shallow. Then she was silent. Her heart had stopped.

Shizune wailed as the world around her began to spin. She felt something deeper than dread and despair, it was the type of feeling Shizune would never wish on even the most evil person. It was devastation felt in the most tender part of the soul.

"Lady Tsunade! Lady Tsunade!" Shizune screamed into the darkness.

In that moment, Shizune's sense of hope was gone and only pain remained.

...

...

...

"Oh, will you shut up!" Shizune heard someone say. Shizune then felt the impact of a magazine that had been thrown at her face. Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned to see a more youthful Tsunade sitting on her hospital bed.

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune said, obviously shocked to see the Hokage alive and well.

"I'm right here, there's no need to be so loud," Tsunade said as she flipped through another trashy magazine, "What are you screaming about anyway? It had to be my death, right? I can't imagine you making all of that noise for any other reason."

Shizune did not respond. Instead, she looked at the floor.

"Come on, out with it! What's got you so upset?"

"I'm just worried, I guess. I won't even be assisting you in starting the next cycle for a few days, but I'm concerned. I should have said something earlier, but when I spoked to Genma, I just lost it. I don't want to lose you in all this."

"And I'm assuming that you don't want to lose him either, correct?"

"No, but there's nothing that can be done about that."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Shizune looked at Lady Tsunade with wide eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean nothing is impossible," Tsunade continued, "Don't get too excited though, I can't guarantee that he'll be saved, but I know Kanoko. If there's a chance that there is any of her consciousness left, then there's hope. Now go wipe your face, you got drool running down on your chin like you're some kid."

Shizune got up immediately and exited into the hall. She wondered if what Tsunade said was true, and she was also unsure of why Tsunade had so much faith in Kanoko. As Shizune was deep in thought, she ran into Kakashi.

"Hey, Shizune. Fancy meeting you here," he said, "Actually, this is perfect timing, I had a dream about you recently."

"What? What kind of dream? Oh, don't tell me it was one of tho-"

"Relax, it wasn't a steamy dream,"

"Good, because with all of those books you read I-"

"Hey, don't knock my hobbies," Kakashi said, "Now, this dream was an important one. In it, you were with Genma."

Shizune's face turned tomato-red as she tried to explain herself.

"Don't worry, like I said, it wasn't anything sexy," Kakashi said, "I couldn't hear too well, but I saw both of you. I guess he told you something sad because you ended up crying on him, but I could tell it wasn't just a dream, was it?"

Shizune sighed. She pulled Kakashi away from the rapidly-moving medical nin and explained what she had learned about the Unknown Fire agreement. Shizune then asked Kakashi how he saw her moment with Genma, which also made her blush again.

"It's a bit hard to explain, but the short of it is that Lady Kanoko recently connected me to her subconscious power that's hidden deep within her mind. Her sister has taken control of her body, but Lady Kanoko had done a few things without her sister's knowledge to counter her invasion of her consciousness. She did all of this by connecting to her own time-space. For example, at that meeting place where we lost Sakura, Lady Kanoko had already sent messages to another dimension via the time-space to throw off her sister's plans to seize her Goddess chakra. Of course, doing that greatly weakened Lady Kanoko's power level."

Shizune started at Kakashi for a few seconds.

"Huh?" she finally said.

"The training, the power she gave the girls, all of it was part of her plan to prevent the Goddess chakra from falling into the wrong hands. When she sensed something was wrong, she began planning subconsciously. She didn't know her sister was behind all of this until much later, so her plans weren't perfect, but at least we know there's a way we could win here."

Shizune stared at him for another few seconds.

"Do you need to, like, get checked out or something," she said, "Because we're already at the hospital and they do psych evaluations downstairs for free."

Kakashi sighed.

"Never mind," Kakashi said, "I guess I'll have to make plans to save Genma and the rest of the world on my own."

"Genma!?"

_Did she not hear me say "and the rest of the world?"_ Kakashi thought.

"Yes," Kakashi said to her, "Based on what you just told me, he's in trouble too. Now, I need to connect with whoever is in Kanoko's time-space so that we're all on the same page. Also, I need to get to the Mist as soon as possible. I should probably work on both of those things at once."

"What about the girls?" she asked.

"They'll be okay, Lady Kanoko factored them into her plan. In fact, they may be the most important part of all of this," Kakashi said. He then turned to walk away "Are you coming or not?"

"I can't, Lady Tsunade has to do a check up, right now," Shizune said.

"I see," he responded, "They'll need electricity to run some of the tests, right?"

Shizune responded to his questions with a "yes", although she immediately regretted it. Kakashi looked around to make sure no one was watching. He put his hand on a nearby wall.

"You wouldn't dare!" Shizune said.

"Don't worry, it'll just affect her room," Kakashi assured her.

Kakashi sent a surge of lightning through the wall which affected the wiring in and around Tsunade room. This move triggered the shutdown mechanism and the doors and windows of that room went into lockdown mode.

"Hey!" they heard Tsunade yell, "What the hell is going on?"

"Kakashi, that's cruel!" Shizune frowned.

"It'll take them some time to fix this, but she'll definitely break that door down soon. If she does break it down, she'll be using chakra, and she isn't supposed to do that, right?"

"Right, it'll stall the whole process," Shizune bit her nails as she thought about Tsunade raging through the hospital.

"If you go with me, you'll avoid being dragged into this," Kakashi said, trying to convince her in a sing-songy voice.

"If I go with you or stay, I'm dead either way," Shizune closed her eyes, "Okay, fine, I'll go."

"Great, now try to keep up because we don't have time to waste," with that he zoomed off and she scrambled to catch up with them.

On their way out of the village, Raido and Genma saw them running in the distance.

"What the hell..." Genma said. Raido shook his head and smiled.

"Don't be jealous, it is Kakashi after all."

Suddenly, Genma clenched his chest and his knees buckled.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Genma said in a voice barely above a whisper, "It's my chest! Something's happening-"

Genma fell to the ground. Raido immediately picked him up.

"Let's get you to the hospital," Raido said.

He picked up Genma, maneuvered around a crowd of villagers, and sprinted to the hospital. They barely made it there in time.

—-

Tenten twirled the staff in one hand as she shifted the shield in the other. The guardian swung her own grand sword as Tenten leaned forward.

_Okay, let's try this again_, Tenten thought. She took a deep breath and initiated the next stage of their battle. Several more pulses of energy shot out from around them as they fought and a few of their moves even shook the island's core.

On the other side of the island near the roaring sea stood four other battle ready shinobi. Ruby Lee and Hiroto stood behind Ino as Sakura glared at them with the Goddess's shield in her hand. Ino linked her mind with Hiroto and Ruby Lee to communicate her plan. In the blink of an eye, Ino and her comrades sprinted out onto the water, and Sakura chased them.

Ino's mental link to Hiroto allowed Ino to view her own moves from the point of his Byakugan. That enabled Ino to move quickly and evade Sakura's attacks without having to even look directly at Sakura. The mental link with Ruby Lee helped Ino push Sakura into certain directions that make Sakura vulnerable to a barrage of coordinated attacks from both Ruby Lee and Ino. The rapid attacks prevented Sakura from staying balanced as she swung at her foes. It was a good strategy until Sakura became angrier.

Sakura upped her power level and eventually saw an opportunity to grab hold of Ino and Ruby Lee as they rushed around Sakura the same time. In one second, Sakura managed to grab them both and toss them even further out into the restless waves. Their bodies skipped across the water and a part of Ino's left arm cracked on impact. Hiroto decided to move in.

Tashiro observed their fight as an invisible bystander. Once he believed that Sakura was not attempting to kill the other shinobi, he moved to find Kichiro.

Once he located the villain who lay unconscious on the other side of the broken island, Tashiro made himself visible. He thought about extracting all of the water from Kichiro's body, but that would surely damage the consciousness of his uncle who was also bound in the villain's body. There was only one thing Tashiro could do at that point, but he hesitated to do it. The villain looked so much like Tashiro, that he found it difficult to move forward with his plan.

"Damn it, I've waited for this for so long, I've wanted to defeat you so badly, and yet. When I look at your face, I can't bring myself to just move. If I could just-"

"Step away from him," a weakened Yasu said. She crawled toward Tashiro from behind, covered in dirt and bruises. Her arms and legs shook. Tashiro turned to look at her.

"Wha- Oh, it's you," Tashiro said, "Still holding onto life, I see. Don't waste your last breath trying to defend someone like him. He's unforgivable."

"I don't care," Yasu said, "Stay away from him! Don't touch him. He is not perfect, I know. I am not a foolish child. I can see him for who he is, but he has given me a life. When I had nothing in this world of illusions, he gave me a vision and power. And that means everything to me, so I'll ask you once more to move!"

Tashiro shook his head. To say Tashiro pitied Yasu would be an understatement.

"What he has given you is what he would willingly take away the moment you show any independence, any defiance. Don't you get that? He wants to control you! He gave you an ounce of his so-called power and now he's your god. Some power that is! If it's power you want, you should find your own way to get it."

"You don't know what you're saying!" Yasu yelled with all of her might.

"Actually, I do," Tashiro said, "I've been keeping an eye on this little kunoichi band of his for a while. I know the only one he cares to even consider at least half-human is the one in white. The one called Yukina. And you know that. You've known that for a while, haven't you! Is that what you want? To be second best? To be discarded as soon as you prove useless!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" Yasu wanted to cry, but the tears still did not come to her eyes. Instead, she roared like the sea.

She had pushed herself up to kneel, and continued to yell at Tashiro. Stunned by her sudden movement, Tashiro had almost forgotten about Kichiro, and he would soon regret allowing Yasu's presence to distract him.

As she battled the guardian, Tenten suddenly sensed Kichiro's killing intent. Katsu, who controlled the body of Kichiro, had his own reserve of Goddess chakra which Yua had given him when they agreed to take Kanoko down, and that was the first time Tenten could sense that chakra so clearly. It had mixed with the chakra of both Hiroshi and another man who were still unconscious within the fabricated Kichiro. Many things began to make sense to Tenten.

"_I'm sensing some new chakra in Kichiro. We have to take care of him immediately_," Tenten communicated to Ino.

Way out on the water, Ino tried to figure out how to deal with Sakura and Kichiro simultaneously. She was determined not to be indecisive for long.

It was a risky move, but she combined her Mind Transfer jutsu with a Goddess chakra power-up and entered Sakura's mind. Hiroto and Ruby Lee lost their mental link to Ino but could see the shift in Sakura and Ino's bodies. Hiroto moved to grab Ino's fallen body as fast as he could.

"Ruby Lee," he said with Ino's body in his arms, "We have to get away from here!"

"We do?" Ruby Lee said, "But I thought we were instructed to help our gender-swapped friends?"

"Trust me, we don't want to stick around to witness whatever happens next. When there's too much power in one body it can be subdued, but multiple people are reaching their capacities and my Byakugan can see their chakra systems cracking. We'll retreat and return soon for the other girls."

Ruby Lee and Hiroto ran across the water with Ino's body to a different island.

As Tashiro watched Yasu's breakdown, he failed to notice Kichiro's chakra shift. Instantly, Kichiro appeared behind Yasu and yanked her up by her hair, which caused her to scream out.

"It's about time you revealed yourself, boy!" a crazed "Kichiro" said, "In fact, it's inspirational! Perhaps I should reveal my true self as well!"

Before Tashiro's eyes, Kichiro changed from a young man with blue hair to a middle aged man with multi colored hair red and blue hair. Kichiro's chakra levels increased exponentially, but he still wanted more. He then absorbed the chakra from Yasu, who fainted. He let her body drop to the ground as though she were a piece of garbage.

Tashiro stared at him in shock for a moment before taking on a fighting stance. Ino soon arrived in Sakura's body to fight the villain as well.

"I'm sorry, my Lord," Ino said, "It's truly nothing personal."

Ino used her increased speed and Sakura's strength to toss Kichiro away from Yasu. She and Tashiro then ran over to continue fighting him, and Yasu lay nearly lifeless on the sand. Tears still failed to form in Yasu's eyes as a light drizzle began to fall. The sky cried even though she could not.

Tenten and the guardian were still engaged in a battle, but noticed "Kichiro's" change in chakra.

"Do not let that insignificant fight over there distract you from the enemy in front of you!" the guardian said as she slammed into Tenten's staff.

Tenten was forced backward, but was still standing. Her entire body burned with every strike she endured, but she wouldn't even consider giving up.

The guardian increased the frequency of her swings. Tenten blocked most of her attacks with the shield, but felt her knees weakening. She had to think of another strategy. Luckily, Tenten had gotten better at thinking on her feet.

"Guardian, how can you stand here and fight me, when there are people who need your help," Tenten said as she exchanged her staff for her own sword.

"You fool, I serve the Goddess of Fire," the guardians said, "She is the one I protect, I have no allegiance to your kind!"

"You know, I thought that it was weird that you reside here in the Land of Water, but that's not the weirdest thing about you," Tenten continued, "The weirdest thing about you is that your Goddess's power has been siphoned, and you did nothing to defend her! Some guardian you are!"

In anger, the guardian moved to slice Tenten in half, but instead sliced thought a log.

"Substitution?" the guardian mumbled.

Suddenly, the Goddess was kicked from behind by Tenten, which caused the guardian to tumble forward several times. Tenten had summoned her kama while the guardian was distracted by the substitution and swung the chain around the waist of the unbalanced guardian. With all of her strength, Tenten swung the guardian upward far into the air and lifted the Goddess shield she held.

"Art of the Goddess: Guardian, Return Fire!" Tenten yelled. The jutsu forced the guardian back down at a high speed and she slammed into the shield. This attack shattered the guardian's defenses, and the shield absorbed a large portion of the guardian's chakra in the process. Unfortunately for Tenten, that attack took the last of her chakra and she did not manage to absorb the chakra from the shield before she collapsed on dirt. The guardian struggled to get on her feet.

"I can't believe-I can't believe that worked," Tenten said. Tenten then closed her eyes and her mind took a rest. The guardian began the process of healing herself from the attack as she limped over to Tenten. She was impressed by the Leaf kunoichi's bravery and skill. No one had challenged the guardian and lived to tell the tale in many years.

"Maybe you're not such a fool after all," the guardian whispered.

Sensing Tenten's life force weakening, the guardian made a decision that went against her nature. The guardian returned to her original form and leaned over Tenten. She then transferred herself into Tenten's body.

"_Thank you..._" Tenten thought before her mind drifted off.

The rain began to pour down harder. The waves tossed recklessly.

Ino sensed that her mental link to Tenten was gone, but she could not stop her battle with "Kichiro". She and Tashiro took turns attacking and they were both surprisingly in sync.

"So you decided to join the good side, I see?" Tashiro said to the person he thought was Sakura. Ino simply grunted in response. They continued to fight until Kichiro lost interest.

"This has been fun, but I am tired of you children," Kichiro said, "And I would just like to note that you all are far too slow to catch on. And _that _will cause your downfall."

"Kichiro" then quickly weaved hand signs and disappeared.

"Ugh, that coward!" Ino said before stomping and causing ripples in the water beneath her. At least that was something Sakura would do.

"Don't worry, we'll catch up to him again," Tashiro said, "Are you okay, Sakura?"

Ino turned to look at Tashiro's handsome face. She then turned away and blushed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Ino responded, "All that matters is that we track Kichiro fast."

"Katsu," Tashiro said.

"What?"

"Katsu. That's his true name. I will no longer allow him to disgrace the name of my uncle, Kichiro. He will die at my hand as Katsu Minazuki. I swear it."

Before Ino could respond, Anbu from the Mist had arrived. One of them appeared from the water directly behind them, leaving them no room to escape.

"Don't move. By order of Lady Mizukage you are under arrest for the total destruction of a sacred site. We ask that you come with us willingly, otherwise you will be taken by force."

Stunned, Tashiro and Ino looked at each other. The Anbu tied their hands and walked them across the water to a ship. Ino was terrified, but Tashiro appeared to be emotionless.

The sky continued to cry.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: Into the Mist

The journey through the Land of Lightning was a mostly silent one. The portion of Kichiro's band led by Yukina walked in a single file line across the rough terrain. As always, no one dared to complain. They all knew that if they revealed their dissatisfaction, Yukina would certainly dispose of them herself and that she would take pleasure in doing so.

Yoiko remained at the end of the line, kicking small rocks along the way. She thought of Yumi and smiled. Yoiko knew that if nothing else, Yumi no longer had to endure the intimidation and harsh tactics of Lord Kichiro.

For some reason, Yoiko's mind shifted to Yasu and a chill traveled down her spine. Although she and Yasu were not friends, Yoiko could sense that something had happened to her. She wondered if Yukina sensed it, too. Even if Yukina did, Yoiko knew Yukina's heart did not know compassion so it wouldn't matter.

Although they knew she could be cruel, no other kunoichi in the band knew what truly mattered to Yukina, and even her physical appearance was a mystery. Her face was always covered in a white mask that matched the white bodysuit and cloak she typically wore. The mask had no opening for the eyes, nose or mouth. It was just a white barrier that kept the world from seeing Yukina and their Lord believed it was better that way.

As their band approached the summit of a mountain, they stopped briefly to rest. Fifteen minutes into their break, Yukina turned to the band to alert them that enemies were quickly approaching.

"They're here," Yukina said, just seconds later. Her voice was raspy and a touch robotic, but there was something Yoiko enjoyed about it. It gave away the fact that Yukina was young like everyone else, despite Yukina's godlike qualities.

Just then, the enemies were in view. Shinobi from the Hidden Cloud ran toward Kichiro's kunoichi from the front and from behind.

"Shall I assist?" Yoiko yelled to Yukina.

"No, save your power for the summit," Yukina replied. Over fifty skilled enemies surrounded them and ordered Kichiro's kunoichi to stand down. Yukina ran at several of them, dodging their attacks effortlessly. The other kunoichi stayed in defensive mode while Yukina took on the Cloud shinobi alone.

"Art of the Goddess: Bone to Ash jutsu!" Yukina said.

Immediately, all of the enemies let out blood-curdling screams and turned to dust before the other kunoichi's eyes. Yoiko had seen that jutsu before, but she had never seen it used on so many people at once. She then grabbed hold of two very terrified younger kunoichi who were shaking near her and whispered to them.

"If you value your lives, stop up your tears," Yoiko said. The two younger kunoichi nodded and dried their eyes quickly.

"Keep moving," Yukina ordered the group. She did not face the other kunoichi when she addressed them, but they immediately fell in line and proceeded quietly as they had before.

A gust of wind scattered the ashes of the annihilated Cloud shinobi away. As instantly as they had arrived, they were gone.

At the summit, Yukina instructed the kunoichi to form a circle around a large stone. Under that stone was the entrance to a passageway which led to body armor of the Goddess of Fire.

The Goddess's tools were scattered around the world, and they were extraordinarily hard to use even if one managed to find one, but that wasn't an issue for someone with Yukina's powers.

The kunoichi around Yukina were there to form and maintain a barrier around the area so that others would not interfere with Yukina's mission to retrieve the body armor. As Yukina approached the stone to crush it with her jutsu, she felt an unfamiliar presence.

"RASENGAN!"

To Kichiro's kunoichi's surprise, out of the stone popped a disheveled but eager Narumi Uzumaki, who managed to graze Yukina's arm before Yukina vanished.

"Hey, you were supposed to let me go first!" Naruto said, as he jumped from behind Narumi.

"Don't be such a baby! Where the hell did she go anyway?" Narumi looked around at the stunned kunoichi who sat frozen in their circle formation, "Oh, Creepy Phantom Kunoichi, where are you?"

"Yeah, that'll bring her back," Naruto said sarcastically.

Narumi was just about to reply with some sass of her own, but she sensed Yukina. Right before Yukina struck her, Narumi leapt back and summoned ten shadow clones.

"You might want to help me out here!" Narumi's clones said to Naruto. Naruto summoned ten clones of his own to assist her. In a blink of an eye, Yukina cut down every version of Naruto and Narumi on that summit.

Luckily, they were all clones. In the distance, the real Naruto and Narumi had watched the scene play out. They were riding on a large black bird, which was a shadow-beast summoning gift from Narumi's friend, Shikara.

"She's deadly, huh?" Narumi said, "What do you think, should we attack from the air?"

"With what?" Naruto responded, "I don't think I have any jutsu that will work at this distance."

"Rasen-Shuriken?"

"No, I can't...I can't use that right now,"

Narumi sighed. They were not ready to go up against someone that powerful with their usual jutsu. There had to be something else. Narumi then tried to infuse the chakra she had received from the Lady Kanoko of her world, but she noticed something strange.

Narumi's reserve of Goddess chakra was full before she entered Naruto's world under the instruction of her own Kakashi sensei. She had hardly used any, and yet there appeared to be none in her body.

"Naruto, something's wrong," Narumi said in a soft voice. It was unlike her to be so suddenly afraid.

"What do you mean?" he said, "Are you hungry or something? Tired? Is it one of those, you know...girl things?"

Usually Narumi would laugh at that type of comment, but she had lost her sense of humor. The giant black bird soared higher in the sky, and Naruto was concerned that they would lose sight of Kichiro's kunoichi. Little did he know, that would soon be the least of his worries.

Narumi attempted to mentally contact her sensei who was still in the Kanoko time-space. When she finally connected to him, she could hear that he sounded unusually depressed. She asked him if something had happened and there was a long pause.

"_Narumi,_" her Kakashi said, "_We can talk about it when you get back."_

"_But sensei something is wrong right now! I feel it. Do you know if anything has happened back home?_"

Her Kakashi did not answer for several seconds.

"_Narumi,"_ the sadness took hold of his voice, "_I'm sorry...it's..."_

Narumi clenched her teeth and balled her fists. She was shaking.

"_It's Lady Kanoko, isn't it?_" Narumi said.

"_I am sorry, but yes._ _I just sense it. Our Lady Kanoko...she's..."_

"She's gone."

Naruto looked back to see Narumi sitting crossed legged with her eyes closed. That was the moment, the absolute quiet before the storm. The area around them took on a reddish tint and then the orange-reddish chakra cloak manifested around Narumi.

When Narumi's eyes reopened, they were red and wild. A strong fear filled Naruto's heart. It was something so familiar to him, yet so incredibly terrifying to witness from the outside.

"NOOOO!" Narumi's voice traveled through the sky in every direction.

Her voice fused with that of the beast inside of her. One tail appeared, then two, then three. She then leaped down toward the summit, shattered the barrier the rogue kunoichi had formed.

"Oh no. Oh, no, no, no, no!" Naruto said. He looked down as he tried to keep his grip on the back of the shadow-beast bird, "This is beyond bad! Where's Captain Yamato when you need him?"

Naruto guided the bird down toward the summit where Narumi had landed. The nine tails's power had taken over Narumi's mind and Naruto created many shadow clones to try to contain her attacks.

The nine tails roared, which stunned most of Kichiro's kunoichi, but Yukina slowly and calmly walked toward the transforming Narumi.

"_Hey, Kunoichi Kakashi, could we get a little help here?"_ Naruto said, telepathically.

In the time-space a distracted Kakashi heard Naruto's call.

"Damn it, I knew she'd be upset by the news, but I didn't expect this to happen so quickly," Kakashi, "I'm not supposed to make any moves until the other me gets to the Mist, but..."

"Allow me to assist you then," Tenten appeared before him in the time-space and bowed.

Her voice had a slight echo to it, and both of her entire eyes glowed orange. It was a sight straight from one of the myths Saku's Kakashi grew up reading.

"Tenten, your chakra is incredible. Those lessons paid off after all, didn't they?" Kakashi said.

"Yes, but that's not all," Tenten said, "A Fire guardian lent me her power. I can teleport now, among other things. If you want me to go stop the nine Tails transformation, I believe I can do it."

"I love the confidence, kid," Kakashi said, "Okay. Show me what you got."

With that, Tenten disappeared from his sight. The silence made the reality of his own version of Lady Kanoko's death painful, but he decided to soldier on.

"This is the least I can do for you now, my lady," he said, "We won't let you down. I promise."

With the guardian's chakra, Tenten felt invincible. She appeared on the summit between Yukina and the transforming Narumi. She thrusted a palm toward Narumi and deity chains flew out.

"_That girl, we've seen her before...she's a Leaf kunoichi_," Yoiko thought, "_But where did all of this power come from?_"

The chains quickly covered Narumi and suppressed her transformation. Once back to her form, she fell to the grown and knocked out.

By making a single hand sign, Tenten encased all of Kichiro's kunoichi in orange glass.

Naruto watched Tenten's technique from the back of the shadow bird. His mouth was wide open in shock as he observed her.

"Don't just hover there," Tenten said to Naruto when she was done, "Get down here, and help take care of your sister!"

"Narumi's not...actually, after seeing what you just did, I'm not even going to bother correcting you on that."

As they tended to Narumi, Naruto explained to Tenten that the possessed Lady Kanoko had suddenly disappeared as they were fighting her and that they had been sucked into a vortex and separated from the others. Narumi and Naruto had found Kichiro's kunoichi by tracking the nearest source of strong Goddess chakra who happened to be Yukina.

"That must mean that Kichiro is ready to fully take our Lady Kanoko over," Tenten said, "He seems to be testing out his control of the time-space portal. We have to connect to the others as soon as possible."

In the meantime, Ino (who was still in Sakura's body) and Tashiro were brought to the village Hidden in the Mist to be punished for their crimes. The Mist Anbu said that Tashiro would also be charged as a rogue ninja, which made his chances of being executed high.

Tashiro did not care about the possibility of his execution. He had failed to separate the true Kichiro Hayashi from the impostor, Katsu, and for that he believed death might have been what he deserved.

The Mist Anbu threw the disguised Ino and Tashiro into a holding cell where they were to stay overnight. The two prisoners sat opposite one another on the cold, hard ground for hours before Ino spoke.

"Why did you leave the Mist?" she said. Tashiro looked into Sakura's eyes and sighed.

"Probably for the same reason you left the Leaf," Tashiro said, "I wanted to be a hero, I suppose. To save someone I really care about. I can tell you're the same way. You seem to have the same deep compassion for those around you. Remember the incident with the younger kunoichi you saved?"

Ino stared at him blankly. The curse mark prevented Ino from accessing Sakura's consciousness and memories. She had to improvise again.

"Maybe this isn't the best place to talk about it," Ino said, finally sounding like Sakura. Tashiro smiled and Ino melted inside.

"Okay, I don't think anyone is around, but still...I really like you, Sakura. And please know that I'll do all that I can to keep you safe."

"What about your safety?" Ino said.

Tashiro shrugged.

"I'll worry about myself," Tashiro said, "Don't let a guy like me mess up your life. I'll make this right somehow."

One of the Anbu soon returned to address them.

"How are you two lovebirds doing?" he said.

Ino and Tashiro didn't respond.

"What? Nothing?" the Anbu continued, "Not even a word from you, pink hair?"

"I don't have anything to say to you, not that I'd want to," Ino said in Sakura's voice, "The only thing I want is to be free, but it's not like you would help me with that."

The Anbu moved his face closer to the cell door. He lifted his mask.

"You'd be surprised at how helpful I could be,"

"Kakashi sensei?!" Ino said.

"Shhh, I can't help loudmouths," Kakashi said. Kakashi entered their cell and lowered his voice.

"How, why, when...what are you doing here?" Ino asked, "Also, _which_ Kakashi are you?"

"Shizune and I were headed to the Mist and we ran into Tenzo who had been tracking you. Before we went to look for you all, the other me contacted us to fill us in a bit, but then something happened and we lost the connection. We weren't in contact long enough to know how that turned out though. Oh, and I'm the Kakashi you've known the longest, and I'm the coolest one, might I add."

"Yeeeeeah, you're definitely Naruto's- I mean, _my _Kakashi sensei!" Ino said, "What exactly are you doing in the Mist?"

"I'm looking for the leader of the Minazuki clan. I have to speak to him immediately, but I'll be back for you later."

Ino looked at Tashiro.

"When you get back, could my friend here tag along with us?" she said to Kakashi, "He wants to fight Kichiro as well."

Kakashi signed.

"As long as he isn't too much trouble," Kakashi put the Anbu mask back on, "But you're responsible for him, Sakura. If you can't handle him, I will."

Kakashi held his hand out and lightning quickly danced around it. He then smiled as Tashiro laughed nervously.

"Don't worry, I can handle him," Ino winked at her fellow prisoner. When Kakashi left, she moved to sit next to Tashiro.

"So I'm part of the team now?" Tashiro asked.

"Almost," Ino said, "If you want to officially be a part of the team, you're going to have to tell me everything I need to know about you.

"And will you tell me more about yourself?" he said.

"In time," Ino said.

—

Before Kakashi approached the head of the Minazuki clan's home, Shizune caught up with him.

"Find anything interesting?" he said.

"Yeah, but it's not much. They were going over upgrading their security in the meeting I was just in, but then something happened. A lot of the Anbu suddenly ran out, they all seemed to know something I didn't."

"And I think I know where they went," Kakashi looked far down the path ahead and saw people, Anbu and civilians, standing near the Minazuki leader's home.

"It would appear that the Minazuki clan elder has been kidnapped," one of them said as Shizune and Kakashi approached.

"I bet it was those damn Leaf Shinobi who did this! I heard the Land of Fire has infiltrated our nation."

"Sounds like Leaf scum to me," Yamato said, trying to blend in more with the Mist Anbu.

"Maybe it was the Akatsuki!" a nearby civilian shouted.

"The Akatsuki? Ha! You really think those amateurs are in the same league as me?" "Kichiro" said before he made himself visible to them, "What an insult!"

He cut down several of the people who had gathered outside of the Minazuki elder's house before the disguised Yamato attempted to trap him with a powerful water style jutsu. "Kichiro" evaded the attack and used the lightning blade technique he had stolen from Kakashi to pierce through Yamato's abdomen.

Kakashi was paralyzed by shock for a moment, but Shizune grabbed his arm and signaled for them to get ready to move.

"Ki-Kichiro, you monster!" Shizune said.

"Kichiro is dead, just as your comrade here will soon be," the villain replied, as he tossed Yamato to the side, "Let it be known that I am the new and improved Lord Katsu Minazuki and I-"

"Talk far too much, my Lord," Yumi said. She, Hinata, and Sakumaru appeared in time, wearing masks they took from the Goddess of Fire's temple. Their chakra was strong and they were more than ready to fight.

Hinata rushed Katsu and disabled several of his chakra points before delivering a powerful kick that sent him straight through the Minazuki leader's home.

Kakashi and Shizune ran to tend to Yamato as the civilians fled.

Yumi and Hinata ran after Katsu. The Anbu were headed after them as well, but Sakumaru stopped them.

"Don't," Saku said, "You'll die if you follow them."

"How dare you speak to us like this! You have invaded our land and you have the audacity to-"

Sakumaru forced the Anbu far away from the entrance of the Minazuki leader's house with an Earth style jutsu without breaking a sweat.

"Look, I'm not the most patient guy in the world," Saku said through gritted teeth, "I'm going after them now, but like I said, if you follow me, you will die. And if Katsu doesn't kill you, know that I will if you get in my way!"

With that, Sakumaru ran after his kunoichi comrades.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen: The Separation of Souls

Hinata used her Byakugan to locate Katsu (formerly disguised as Kichiro) among the rubble. When he burst from the broken slabs of wood with a crazed look on his face, she was ready to give the battle her all.

"So you two kunoichi are still breathing, huh?" Katsu's voice sounded as though his lungs were rattling around in his chest, "It's disappointing to see, but it's no issue. I can handle you easily."

Yumi, who stood to Hinata's left, bit down on her lip and then frowned at her former master. Hinata was briefly distracted by Mist shinobi she could see running around in the village. They seemed to be headed to the Mizukage's office.

Sakumaru, who had just rejoined them, was working on a plan to finish Katsu in less than ten breaths.

Sakumaru, Hinata, and Yumi could not communicate telepathically, but they silently committed to watching each other and coordinating their moves as soon as one of them took the first step.

The dismal Mist sky discouraged any type of spirited movement. This fight was one of necessity, not for the sake of gain. If anything, there was a lot to lose.

Yumi slid her foot forward. A sign of intention. Her move was no more than a death wish in Katsu's eyes.

"My former lord, is it no longer your wish to inspire skilled kunoichi to become powerful?" Yumi said, "Or was that just a lie, one of the many lies you've told us just to get your hands on a power that you will never be able to properly wield?"

"I am not your lord, you wench," Katsu said, "at least not your lord in particular. I am the lord of all things who cannot be contained. You were simply a tool. A tool that wasn't strong enough to be effective. And now you want to take a stance? You have no village and no home. No purpose except to provoke me. It's a pathetic sight."

Just as Katsu stopped speaking, Hinata charged in. She was then passed by Sakumaru who intended to use his strength to strike the villain down.

To Katsu, it was a laughable scene. He phased himself out of view the moment Hinata and Sakumaru were about to deliver their attacks. Seeing that his target was gone, Sakumaru spun around and stopped himself from hitting Hinata by directing his fist to the ground. This caused Hinata to begin to stubble back, but she caught herself.

"I know more tricks than you think, old man," Yumi said to the invisible Katsu, "So if you think you can trap me, think again!"

Yumi swiveled around and head butted what appeared to be the air. Her head slammed into Katsu's, disrupting his jutsu, and making him visible once again.

"This was a tactic you stole from that girl you discarded by the river," Yumi said through gritted teeth, "You're so predictable, it's sickening!"

Sakumaru intercepted Katsu's following attack. Because Katsu had focused so much energy on concealing his chakra signature, he had left himself vulnerable to Hinata's next attack.

Hinata disabled two of Katsu's chakra points, but she realized that he was simultaneously pulling chakra from Yumi, Sakumaru and herself in the process.

Katsu soon overpowered the three of them, but they quickly moved far back before he could knock them aside.

"Be careful, he may strengthen himself to absorb your jutsu," Yumi said to Hinata and Sakumaru.

"Damn it" Saku said, "Well, let's see him absorb this!"

Sakumaru then picked up three large steel beams that were nearby. He threw the first to see how quickly Katsu would dodge it. Then the second to confirm Katsu's speed. The third he pretended to throw, but didn't initially. Katsu moved slightly and Sakumaru jumped far across to swat the villain with the final beam. When the beam contacted Katsu, it hurled him into the air. He landed far at the back gate near one of the Minazuki clan's temples.

"Let's go!" Saku said. They three raced to subdue Katsu. Yumi intended to seal him with a technique she had learned from her grandfather. To do so, they would have to get his chakra levels very low.

"I'm going to need help sealing him, but he has to be weaker than he is now." Yumi said.

"I have an idea," Hinata responded. Something told her that there was a better way to stop Katsu.

When they reached Katsu, he was barely standing, but still had that crazed look on his face. Hinata could see his network was knew that their best chance would be to cut off his chakra flow at several places at once, but the gentle fist technique alone wouldn't do the job.

"Okay, let's give him everything we got," Hinata said, "and I mean everything!"

Yumi was bewildered for a moment, but then she understood.

"Don't hold back, pink hair!" Yumi said.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Saku responded.

Yumi summoned forth the last bit of Goddess of Fire chakra she had in reserve. Hinata had her own, which she had received from Yoiko during her time in the rogue kunoichi camp. Sakumaru was already powered up and itching to fight.

They struck Katsu at the same time. Initially, the arrogant villain laughed as he attempted to absorb the attack. But he was naive.

Sakumaru used his medical ninjutsu to stop the flow of Katsu's chakra on contact, a method which was usually used on a person before emergency surgery. Hinata aimed at Katsu's heart and pushed the powerful chakra into a vital chakra point. Yumi's attack overwhelmed Katsu's chakra system and finally shattered it.

Chakra radiated from Katsu's body and blood emerged from his throat. He flopped to the ground.

"You-you don't understand what you've done..." Katsu said. His voice was very different, it was deep, but also gentle and pained.

From Katsu's body emerged a lean middle aged man with green eyes and hair that went from a light blue to a dark blue in a matter of seconds. The man smiled at the three shocked comrades.

Katsu was paralized for a moment. Then his face twitched and he smiled.

"It's not that easy to kill a man like me," Katsu said. His body then disappeared before their eyes.

Sakumaru put his hands to the sides of his head.

"What the hell was that?" He exclaimed. The man who still remained sighed before responding.

"It's a long story," He identified himself as Hiroshi Seto, "Now listen closely, we only have three days before hell is unleashed on this world. If you're interested in saving those you love, you'll do as I say. That's the only way out of this mess, got it?"

The three exchanged looks. They were low on energy, and very confused.

"Fine," Sakumaru said, "But move like a foe, and we'll finish you off."

The older man was shocked by the teenage boy's words, but then he laughed heartily, which caused them to lower their guard slightly.

"That's a good one!" Hiroshi said, "You've got a lot to learn, kid."

—

Back in the Leaf Village a few days had passed since Kakashi and Shizune's departure. Tsunade had decided to return to her office and try to process all that was happening. She had been briefed on the recent news regarding the Akatsuki and other important events, but she did not comment much on anything. She simply listened, said "I see," and dismissed all messengers quickly.

_The Goddess chakra within me is shifting..._ Tsunade thought, _If it gets too out of hand, it shouldn't interfere with my life force, but it could seriously affect Genma and the girls._

As she went to reread her notes about a recent assignment. Tsunade heard a bang.

"Out of the way, rookie!" Tsunade could hear the guards outside her door being tossed around. She got up to prepare to face the intruder, but the intruder burst through the door before she could move from behind her desk.

Tsunade's jaw dropped.

The intruder was herself.

"Dammit, Kakashi. Couldn't he have just teleported me straight into the office?" The other Tsunade wore a white top with a purple shawl and had a thin scar that ran from the right side of her nose to her right cheek.

The two made eye contact.

"Huh? What the hell are you doing in my office?" Tsunade yelled at the alternate version of herself.

The other Tsunade laughed.

"I could ask you the same thing," the other Tsunade said.

The original Tsunade frowned. She was suspicious for a second, but she knew that the person before her was no impostor. Despite the minor differences, Tsunade felt as though she was looking in a mirror. She could feel that their chakra was identical.

"I wish I could say this is the strangest thing that's happened to me. Anyway, why did you come here?"

"I am from a different world. Similar to this one, but different as well. I would've sent the Shizune from my world instead, but I had to deliver this personally. My friend just died. I had reason to believe that you have a friend just like her, too. I don't know why, but my Kanoko Nishi was linked to yours. My Kanoko had been complaining about dreams of a strange world and now it all makes sense and-"

"It doesn't really make sense," Tsunade said to the alternate version of herself.

The other Tsunade raised one eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.

"Oh, sorry. By all means, keep talking," Tsunade said.

"This villain of your world has found a way to manipulate the sacred time-space which was a gift to Kanoko, well both Kanoko's, by the Goddess of Fire, whose consciousness can stretch across several dimensions at once. According to intel I've received from my Kakashi and the others he is in contact with, this villain seems to want the Goddess's power and if he does gain the ability to teleport across realms in an instant, he will be able to rule worlds beyond yours and mine. Apparently, he somehow has gathered enough power to already move between a few dimensions, he left me a note mocking our Kanoko's death."

Tsunade tried to remain calm.

"So, what's our plan?" she said to her counterpart.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much I can do except give you the Goddess chakra stored in my body. It was from Kanoko, I've had it for years and as a descendant of the Senju you'll be able to control it better than most."

"Why don't you just stay and fight here? It seems like this would be an appropriate moment for revenge."

The other Tsunade approached the desk. She reached into her pocket, removed a small book and put it down.

"I would love more than anything to stay and fight with you, but other threats in my world need my attention and the connection between this world and my own is growing weaker at an alarming rate. Soon, all of the kunoichi from my world will have to return home and my Kakashi may lose control over the time-space. The Goddess chakra seems to be failing the kunoichi from my world. This is the villain's doing, no doubt, he was able to somehow interfere with our ability to infuse it. That's why I believe you should have it."

"I understand," Tsunade lowered her eyes. There was something strange about feeling that she was about to be abandoned by herself.

"In this book are the strategies we have used to train the best kunoichi in my village, and it includes some Goddess jutsu," the alternate Tsunade said, "Please use it, but do not depend on it entirely. It will be difficult, but you will win. You have no choice but to win so don't even think about the possibility of losing, got it?"

Tsunade nodded.

"All right," Tsunade said, "now about this chakra transfer, how long is the procedure?"

"There's no need for a complex procedure. You and I are one and the same. Just give me your hand."

Tsunade placed here hand into the hand of her alternate. A few seconds passed before the orange chakra flowed into her. Many things began to make sense.

"I...I can sense my Kanoko," Tsunade said.

"Good. Pretty soon, you'll need to confront her, but first get the strategies to your mission squads" the other Tsunade said, "This is all I can give you for now."

The other Tsunade stepped back and gave a parting smile before fading away. Tsunade glanced back at the empty bottle on her desk.

"That definitely wasn't the sake."

Tsunade stood up and walked to her window. The chakra transfer heightened her senses and she could sense the movement of civilians and shinobi walking outside around her office. She put her hands together, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Her sensory range increased and she could feel the chakra and the movements of everyone in the village at once. But that wasn't all. Tsunade could sense the energy of the land as well as that of the animals living in the forest outside of the village. She was especially interested in the carrier bird she could sense arriving from the Hidden Cloud.

Tsunade did not even need to read the letter to know that it was the Raikage's final message to the Leaf about the invaders from the Land of Fire. By that time, the Raikage had already sent shinobi into the Land of Fire to fight back, and Tsunade would sense them as well soon enough. War was certainly on the horizon.

—

In the Mist jail cell, Ino (who was disguised as Sakura) and Tashiro had fallen asleep. Ino would soon be shocked awake by unfortunate news.

As Ino slept, a message from Saku's Kakashi revealed that the kunoichi from the alternate world were to be pulled back to their dimensions immediately. There was a shift in the movement of their chakra, and Saku's Kakashi said that their return to their world would keep the situation from growing more complicated.

"_I'm so sorry it has to be like this,"_ he communicated to Ino, "_But our Lady Kanoko has fallen, we believe by the hand of your enemy, and it has impacted all of our chakra. Even I feel weakened. I can't hold control over this time-space for much longer. I sense the enemy is trying to take it over. As soon as I can reconnect with you, I will. Remember everything we went over in training, but also, remember to trust yourself. Goodbye for now, Ino."_

Ino opened her eyes and gasped. Tashiro remained asleep on the other side of the cell.

The other Lady Kanoko was dead. Their own Lady Kanoko was missing. And Katsu was loose, running around who-knows-where.

There were still so many unknowns and before Ino could fully process the news, Sakura's body began to shake. The sudden rush of conflicting emotions had destabilized Ino's chakra and Sakura saw an opportunity to kick out the intruding Ino.

"_Get out!"_

Ino could no longer speak. She grabbed at her host body's neck. The body wrestled itself for a few seconds.

To avoid waking Tashiro, Ino pulled Sakura and herself into a place in Sakura's mind, leaving Sakura's body unconscious on the cool cell floor.

Sakura stood opposite of Ino in the light pink infinite space.

"So, you're ready to face me now, huh? Ino said, "It took you long enough to emerge. Let's hope you're ready to put up a good fight."

"You invaded my body to control me, Ino. I still care for you, but that is unforgivable. I can't let you stay here, you must know that."

"You've been brainwashed, Sakura," Ino said, "That curse mark and the Goddess chakra don't go well with you. I don't know much about undoing curse marks. But I will gladly ease your load by taking that chakra."

Sakura's eyes widened momentarily. They then charged at one another and Sakura landed the first punch on Ino's shoulder. Luckily, Ino had an advantage in that mental space. The punch did bother her at all.

But it did enrage Ino to have to fight her friend. As they exchanged blows, Ino felt that her mind was on fire.

_Is this what we've come to? _Ino thought, _Is this the work of twisted fate?_

As they fought, flashes of memories from their younger years resurfaced. At one point, their fight paused and they saw each other standing in a field of flowers.

_I can see you, but you're so far away. So, so far. _

They ran toward each other in the dream field, but the more they ran together, the further away they became. This was even more maddening.

They resumed the fight. Ino could match Sakura's strength only due to Ino's superior control of the Goddess chakra. This didn't prevent Ino from eventually growing weaker.

_Sakura, is this who we are? Is this who I am? Why am I feeling this way? Could it be...that I feel..._

Ino then felt a hot pain wrap around her neck. She could then see memories through Sakura's eyes. The most horrific was the memory of Sakura receiving the curse mark. Sakura's vision had been blurry, but the agony was strongly felt.

_Unbelievable. You poor thing._

Sakura and Ino continued to punch and kick and even toss each around the endless mental space. As much as Ino did wanted to avoid thinking about it, Sakura was aiming to kill.

_This must end. A soul should not bear this. I'm sorry, Sakura. I'm more sorry than you will ever know._

Ino forced Sakura back with a kick to the throat. Sakura tried to balance herself again, but Ino used almost all of her mental power to constrict Sakura's movements.

"What...what, are you..." Sakura soon grew still. Ino put her hand on Sakura's curse mark.

_How sweet is the fire before it has been felt. How charred the soul after it has tasted that of those without limits. May man know himself, may woman hold herself always. May all human flesh refuse heated temptation. May they want for air, may they cherish all that they naturally possess, may they find light that does not consume them. May that light outlive the flame._

...

Ino had a vision of two little girls with orange hair standing with their backs to her. She could hear that they were sniffling, crying. She saw them for only a moment. They were gone as quickly as they had appeared.

Ino's wish had been granted. The rage was no longer Sakura's burden to bear. Ino took it into her flesh and that was for the best.

...

"Ino," their Tsunade said telepathically. "Ino, can you hear me?"

Ino walked through the space as she began the slow process of working the new Goddess chakra into her system.

"Ino?"

Ino walked far. She walked until she was forced to kneel. Until she couldn't take her own silence any longer.

"Yes, my Lady," Ino finally said.

"I have a job for you and the others. We don't have much time. There's some information I need you to convey to Tenten and Hinata."

"Okay," Ino said.

The infinite silence followed.

_Okay._

But it was not. It could never be. Not like it was before.

And it certainly wasn't over.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: The Prince of Water

"Hey"

...

"Hey, wake up."

Yasu was regaining consciousness on the beach where her lord had left her. Her body moved slightly as the stranger stood over her.

"You might want to get up," the stranger said. He then knelt next to her which shielded her face from the sun. When Yasu opened her eyes she was surprised to see a young man with black hair and dark eyes looking down at her. Even though she could move at that point, her body became perfectly still for a moment and her eyes drifted slowly from his eyes to the sky.

"Where am I?" she croaked. To any other stranger she would have first said "who are you?", but she instantly knew that answer. She had never identified someone's chakra so easily.

"You're in a place where things have fallen apart," the young man said, "Mist shinobi are nearby. It would be best if you leave immediately."

Yasu sat up and stared directly into the stranger's eyes. They were as intense as she expected them to be.

_So this is him. This is Sasuke Uchiha._

Sasuke stood up and watched Yasu for a few seconds. As she struggled to get up on her own, he extended a hand to help her, but she ignored it. Finally on her feet, she began to limp away from him, back toward the center of the island.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to find my sword."

"That's not a good idea, at the rate you're moving the Mist shinobi are going to catch you. I don't think they'll be too kind when they encounter a rogue shinobi from another nation in their territory."

Yasu stopped walking.

"Then you better get going before they catch you," she said. She walked a bit further before his words stopped her once again.

"He abandoned you, didn't he?"

The ocean roared as if it were confirming Sasuke's words.

Yasu lowered her head. If she had a kunai, she would have turned and thrown it at him. If she had her sword, she would have reveled in slicing him up. Or so she thought at the time.

Since she was defenseless she walked back over to him.

"Mister Uchiha," she said as she stared into his eyes once again, trying to match his contempt, "What exactly is your business here?"

"Orochimaru is looking for kunoichi who have traveled with a man who calls himself Kichiro. Orochimaru has been in contact with some people who have interacted with the girls in Kichiro's band and you match the description one of them gave Orochimaru," Sasuke continued, "Apparently your "lord" underpaid Orochimaru for the job of having an associate apply a curse mark. In addition to that, your "lord" also stole from the hideout where the curse mark was applied."

"Hmph, that man steals everything," Yasu said, "Orochimaru is a fool if he ever trusted him."

"Interesting that you would say that considering you also trusted that same man once," Sasuke said, "Anyway, Orochimaru wants to ask you a few questions."

Sasuke's statement caused her to think about her encounter with Tashiro. Her blood boiled.

The two could hear men shouting on a nearby island. The Mist shinobi were close and there was no time to argue.

"I have nothing left to lose anyway," Yasu said, "So why not go with you, right?"

"The choice is yours to make, but make it quick," Sasuke said.

The embarrassment of her former master discarding Yasu started to set in. Her once composed demeanor was cracked and it would take a while for her to recover from shock of once again finding herself alone.

"I don't care about that man," Yasu continued, "He deserves to burn in an eternal flame for what he did to me! I'd scorch him myself if I ever had the chance! I'd tear him up, rip everything limb and watch it all burn!"

Sasuke could tell that Yasu meant what she was saying. He saw something familiar in her as he watched her grow angrier.

"Maybe one day you will," he said, "But you won't live to see that day if you just stand here whining. Are you coming with me or what?"

Yasu stared at him coldly. The Mist shinobi were approaching rapidly on the water, and she and Sasuke would be cornered if they didn't start moving.

"Okay," Yasu dropped her arms, "I'll go with you."

Sasuke put Yasu's arm over his shoulder with the intention of making himself a crutch for her to put most of her weight on. Soon after he did that, he changed his mind and decided to carry her on his back since he believed she was too tired to be on her feet for the whole journey and would only slow them down.

The touch of his hand wasn't as rough as Yasu had expected it to be. Still, she began to think of ways to defeat Sasuke in case he tried to attack her along the way. Of course, Yasu could only stand a chance against Sasuke if her powers returned, but like her former lord, they seemed to have abandoned her as well.

"Do me a favor?" he said as he began to sprint onto the water.

"What?"

"Never call me Mister Uchiha again."

Yasu let out a bitter laugh.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Shortly after Tsunade had summoned her, Ino appeared before her in a time-space Ino had never seen before. It was a soft blue and reminded Ino of home.

"Wow, did you just get into a fight?" Tsunade said, "You look exhausted."

"Yeah, something like that," Ino replied, "Who's place is this?"

Tsunade looked around and then smiled.

"Mine now, I guess," Tsunade then reached into her pocket and removed a healing scroll. She tore it into pieces and placed several of them on Ino's worst wounds. Tsunade noticed a change in Ino's chakra as she healed her. Ino also sensed that Tsunade's life force was much stronger than before. Although they noted each other's changes, neither of the two spoke of them.

"So, what do we do next, Lady Tsunade?" Ino said, "Just say the word and I'll do it. I know I looked all banged up, but I can still fight."

Ino gave Tsunade a weak smile. There were deeper wounds to be addressed, but that would have to wait.

"Don't be so eager to take on more damage. You girls are smart and dedicated, I know that. But you're young, too. I'm not going to put you on the frontlines of this battle."

"But Lady Tsunade, I can help!" Ino said, "I'm a lot stronger than I was just a few months ago. I can do more, and I want to do more and it's all thanks to you and Lady Kanoko..."

Tsunade did not respond immediately. Hinata, and Yumi then appeared, and they seemed to be exhausted as well.

"I know you're strong," Tsunade said to Ino, "But I am the Hokage. My strength must be used to protect my people. That's what I signed up for and, as long as I am Hokage, I will hold this belief even at the risk of being brought to my death."

The mention of death stirred something in Ino. She and Tsunade then turned to the new arrivals.

"Hinata!" Ino ran over and hugged Hinata with all of her strength. "I'm so happy to see you, you have no idea, it's been such a crazy time and there's so much we have to chat about! Where do I even start? Where have you been? How have you been? Is this a new shirt?"

"Hi Ino, I'm very happy to see you too, but you're squeezing me and I can breathe very we-"

"I'm so sorry!" Ino stepped back to let Hinata breathe, but then Ino held onto Hinata's shoulders as she continued to speak rapidly.

They sensed someone else approaching.

Hiroshi appeared and everyone fell quiet. Tsunade stepped toward him.

"Well, if it isn't the phantom man himself," Tsunade said, "My new senses tell me you have good intentions, so at least that's a plus."

"It's good to see you, too, Tsunade," Hiroshi said, "It's been a long time, hasn't it? I hear you're the Hokage now."

"Yes, but I don't have time to fill you in on the past several years of my life. Let's get straight to the point here. What do you know about our enemy and how can we stop this threat?"

Hiroshi laughed at Tsunade's straightforward manner. He always admired that about her. He responded by telling her the villain's real name and shared that he was able to pull information from Katsu's mind when their consciousnesses were fused, but that he couldn't figure out all of his intentions.

"When we were fused, I could tell that he was angry with many people, and Kanoko and I were among those he hated the most. You all may not know this, but before he went rogue, Katsu was a noble of the Minazuki clan. His clan and my clan, the Seto, were responsible for guarding those who were associated with the Goddess of Water. Katsu was originally known as a Prince of Water, a young man who possessed and could wield the Goddess of Water's chakra to protect the vessel of the Goddess of Water. Although gifted, Katsu was disobedient and quick tempered, he often misused his power to challenge those who he saw as a threat so powerful officials extracted that power and gave it to Kichiro Minazuki, his younger brother. After the extraction, Katsu fled our village and began conspiring with enemies of the Mist from other nations. He was betrayed again in the Land of Fire by people who he believed were allies. He was badly wounded when Kanoko found and healed him. Shortly after, he confessed his love to her, but she admitted that she did not return his affections. This greatly upset him and I confronted him to protect her. After I defeated him, I believed he was dead so I left him where he had fallen. What I didn't know at that time was that he still had a small reserve of Goddess of Water chakra in him. Our battle caused his body to tap into it in order to save his life. He also possessed the ability to absorb chakra which many individuals with Goddess chakra are able to do to varying degrees. He strengthened that ability over time and when he was strong enough, he lured me out into the battle in which I was "killed". After he defeated me, he kept me unconscious in a time-space for years to siphon my power.

"Why you?" Yumi said, "I'm sure a lot of people pissed him off, but why were you someone who he wanted to imprison so badly?"

"To be honest, although I didn't know he was a Prince of Water, Katsu was never a complete stranger to me. My clan also has a connection to the Goddess of Water. I was one of several children who held the Goddess of Water's power, but I could not use it because of how it was sealed within me. It was also supposed to be a secret kept between certain powerful people. I was forced to move to the Hidden Leaf when Katsu defected, but I didn't know that his defection was the reason for the move. My clan leaders believed that it would be difficult for Katsu to take my power if I were hidden away in a powerful shinobi village. I never told Kanoko about my own Goddess of Water chakra, but I assumed she could tell that my chakra was different."

"And what about the original Kichiro? What happened to him?" Ino asked.

"That's a good question. Apparently, Kichiro did not want the Goddess of Water's power. He instead wanted to teach his students, three kunoichi, how to hone their skills. I'm not sure when he left the Mist and became Kichiro Hayashi, but I believe he had to have a good reason to do so."

"The idea to train kunoichi was also stolen from the original Kichiro?" Hinata said, "That's awful!"

The young women present had several more questions for Hiroshi, but Tsunade asked that they calm themselves.

Then Tsunade and Hiroshi turned to look at each other.

"You felt that?" Tsunade said.

"Yes, that surge of power just now..."

After a few seconds, the girls felt it, too. A bright light blinded them all momentarily.

"Sorry I'm late!" Tenten stood before them cloaked in a bright orange glow with a massive, flaming sword, in hand, "The guardian and I got here as fast as we could. Interdimensional traffic is the worst!

The others stared at her for several seconds.

"Okay that," Tsuande said, "That is a game changer."

Katsu traveled across dimensions until most of his wounds were healed. He stopped just before the time-space where Yua was waiting for him. The dimension he was in was completely dark, like many he had passed through.

"_It's not too late to turn back, you know?"_ A calm voice said to Katsu.

"Shut up, damn you!" Katsu responded.

Because Hiroshi separated from Katsu's consciousness, the seal that had kept the real Kichiro suppressed had been weakened. Katsu could not perceive much beside the sound of his brother's voice which echoed in his head.

"_Brother, have you not seen your mistakes by now? Your pursuit of power is destabilizing you at your core," _Kichiro said, still maintaining his calm tone, "_Hiroshi will find you soon enough and you will have nowhere to run to."_

"I do not fear that fool. If you are not going to tell me where you hid the rest of your power, then keep quiet!" Katsu yelled, "If I have to beat the answer out of that old bastard then I will, but if he dies in the process then only you will be to blame!"

"_Do you really believe that old man Minazuki is so fragile?" _Kichiro said, "_Looks can be deceiving, I'm sure you know that by now."_

The silence between them was brief, but meaningful.

"I can't wait for you to die," Katsu said through gritted teeth.

Katsu put two fingers to his temple to use a jutsu that would mute Kichiro temporarily. He exhaled and said a prayer to the Goddess of Water before entering the next dimension.

From across the dark orange time-space, Katsu could see Yua (who was still in Kanoko's body) standing over the unconscious Minazuki clan elder. Katsu teleported himself closer to look at the poor old man.

"This fool," Katsu said, "He was one of the ones who stripped me of my power years ago, and now look at him. Powerless and lowly as a dog. What filth! May he perish and be kept from the gates of heaven for all eternity."

"There you go again talking like a man who was born centuries ago," Yua said, "It's no fun talking all your villainy talk to someone who isn't even awake. You mean to tell me that you didn't even pick up any slang from those kunoichi?"

"Silence," Katsu said, "You need to wake him up so that we can get this over with."

Yua looked at Katsu from the corner of her eye. She put her foot on the unconscious old man and moved him back and forth with her shoe.

"Is our deal still good?" Yua said to Katsu, "I know we've been over this, but I always want to confirm these things whenever I can. I would hate to have to kill you now when you are so close to achieving your goal."

"Nonsense," he replied, "You need me in order to deal with your sister. Of course we still have a deal. Now wake him!"

Yua sighed.

"Okay, sure, sure, just don't work yourself up and pop a vessel."

Yua made a hand sign and the old man awoke. He looked around frantically and cried out when Yua slammed her foot into the side of his head.

"Chillax, gramps," Yua then turned and grinned at Katsu, "See, even I am more hip than you."

"W-where am I? Why have you brought me here?" the old man then looked up at Katsu, "You...no, it's impossible..."

What Yua and Katsu did not realize was the Minazuki clan elder's kidnapping had been reported to the members of the clan who had not been there when he was abducted. The ones who were aware of the secrets of the Goddess of Water within the clan were already on their way to the elder, although many of them were not prepared to travel across dimensions so quickly. Only the most skilled of them could do so, and he was very close by.

"You took too long," Katsu said to Yua, as he sensed the familiar chakra in a person moving toward them.

"What the hell are you talking about? He just woke up."

To Yua's surprise, drops of water began to fall from the infinite ceiling of the space. Katsu was bothered by the approaching Minazuki shinobi, but he also felt dread that was not his own at that moment. The person who was rapidly getting closer stirred anxiety in Kichiro which initially confused Katsu.

"_Brother, stop all of this now! You have already gone too far, and I fear that you will get yourself killed if you do not surrender!" _Kichiro said in a muffled voice.

"Oh, it's not my death that you fear, my dear Kichiro," Katsu smiled, "I don't know what it is, but it's not quite that...it has to do with whoever is approaching right now, correct?"

The one who was getting closer to them was powerful, and had already begun absorbing a small amount of their chakra before his arrival. A flash of lightning appeared above them and thunder without a source followed.

"The boy..." the old Minazuki clan leader said, "He's almost here."

Just as he made that statement, a young man appeared before them dressed in a royal blue cloak. His light blue hair glowed brightly as he unsheathed his sword. The young man was none other than Tashiro Minazuki.

"This boy...it's him, isn't it?" Katsu said, "He is your successor, isn't he brother? The latest Prince?"

Tashiro's appearance caused a deep pain in Kichiro's soul. A pain so strong that Kichiro's tears poured out through Katsu's right eye.

"_You don't know what you're doing! Do not touch that boy!" _Kichiro warned, but he was silenced by the sudden surge of power in Katsu's body.

"Well, well, it looks as though I don't need you after all, old man," Katsu quickly extracted the old man's chakra and kicked the old man far away from them.

"Elder!" Tashiro said. As much as he wanted to run and help the old man, he could not afford to attend to him.

"Oh, come now, don't worry," Katsu sneered, "He's already so close to the grave, I basically just did him a favor."

"Hmph, well trust me, you'll see the grave before he does!" Tashiro yelled.

"Bold words from such a useless brat!"

"If it counts, you're all useless to me," Yua said as she crossed her arms, "I suppose you want me to help you eliminate this obviously misguided child, hmm Katsu?"

"No," Katsu said, "Leave this place, Yua, this is a man's fight."

"A man's fight, huh?" she scoffed, "Well, if you are defeated, make sure you die like a man. Tuh. Idiot. It's time I pay the Hokage a visit anyway. She has something I desperately need."

Yua vanished, and the two standing Minazuki men stared each other down. Before either could strike two more shinobi made their appearance.

Hiroshi appeared between Katsu and Tashiro with a smile on his face.

"Looks like I'm just in time for the party?" Hiroshi said, as he looked between them.

"Umm..." Tashiro said, as he lowered his sword slightly at the sight of a stranger.

Sakumaru teleported next to Tashiro which almost made Tashiro lose his balance.

"Oh, I'm here, too," Sakumaru said. He then pointed to Katsu. "I'm mostly here because I want to get another chance to kick that dipshit's ass. But like, I heal people and stuff, too."

Several more arrivals showed.

The first was Hiroto Hyuga who almost made Sakumaru jump with his appearance.

"Hi, Saku!" Hiroto said, "Don't mind me. I was actually returning home to our dimension under our Lady Hokage's orders, and I caught a glimpse of you with my Byakugan as I was traveling past this dimension. These men...their chakra is powerful. I figured you needed some help."

"Oh, hi Hiroto," Saku said, "Actually, I think I can handle this one, but thank you for-"

"No, you can't, loser," a young man with a long blonde ponytail popped into the time-space as well, "If you could handle it, it would have already been handled by now."

"Ugh, Inoharu," Sakumaru said, "Of course your dumbass would leave our dimension when you weren't even sent out on the mission in the first place!"

"Hey, guys! Wanna see what I bought for this mission?" A brown haired young man came zooming down from above. He pulled out a scroll and summoned two large axes which he flipped around several times before landing.

"Hey, Tenji," Saku, Inoharu and Hiroto said simultaneously.

"So, uh, I guess this is the back up team," Hiroshi said as he lifted an eyebrow and scratched his head.

"Um, what the hell-" Tashiro began.

"What is this, some kind of joke circus?" Katsu said.

"No, it's more of a diversion," someone rushed up to Katsu from behind,

"CHIDORI!"

!

...

...

(to be continued)


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen: A Troubled Kunoichi's Return

After being struck by Naruto's Kakashi, Katsu flew far up into the time-space before crashing back down. The sounds of his bones crushing and the whole in his chest confirmed that all signs of life had exited that body. As Katsu lay lifeless, rain began to pour down on them from an unidentifiable source. Sakumaru glanced over at the old Minazuki clan leader.

"Someone should check on the old man," Saku said to Inoharu, Tenji and Hiroto. When none of Saku's comrades moved, Saku knew it was because they all felt a shifting of energy. The rain became heavier as they all stood and looked to Kakashi for guidance.

Kakashi from Naruto's world stood over Katsu's body.

_The soul does not crave the body, _Kakashi thought. That was one of the secret messages Kakashi discovered in one of the villain's notebooks.

"But the body best holds the soul," Kakashi said to himself. That part was a hidden message from a different notebook. Kakashi looked up at the young men who appeared to be paralyzed.

"Keep your eyes on this body," he pushed Katsu's head slightly with his foot before calmly walking over to the Minazuki clan elder. The elder was a few breaths from death, but he managed to smile when Kakashi stood over him. Kakashi bent down and took the old man's hand.

"Ah, well, there can be no mistaking it," the elder croaked, "You look just like the White Fang. You must be the one who..."

Kakashi closed his eyes briefly.

"Lord Minazuki," Kakashi said, "I'm sorry I failed to reach you sooner. I-"

"Don't explain, young man," the elder said, "You haven't the time to do so anyway. I will give you what you need...your distant relatives in the Mist would be pleased to know that a man like yourself, of Fire and of Water, will wield this power. I trust that you will use it wisely. The world has had enough of fools and their actions..."

With that, the clan elder passed a special power to Kakashi. The sound of powerful thunder marked the moment where the elder's life force weakened. When the rain stopped soon after, so did the clan elder's heart.

With the new power came several visions of the past, some visions involving Katsu and Kichiro, some focusing on Kanoko Nishi, and one vision even revealed the current host of the Goddess of Water. Kakashi's mother's connection to the Mist allowed Kakashi to receive this new power and Kanoko had counted on that.

"What now, Kakashi?" Saku said, "That can't be it!"

Saku looked like a more muscular, male version of Sakura, but as Kakashi walked back toward them something in Saku's eyes reminded him of Sasuke.

Hiroshi closed his eyes and paid his final respects to the clan leader by saying a prayer under his breath. Hiroshi didn't bother approaching the elder because he knew he would see him again soon enough.

"Okay, come now boys. We're going to another place," Hiroshi said.

"What? Why?" Tashiro said. Hiroshi looked Tashiro in his eyes and sighed.

"To finish the extraction, of course," Hiroshi said.

"The old man's body will be safe here for now," Kakashi said, "Everyone, follow me, I'm sensing Katsu in another dimension."

Kakashi then created a hole in the space and entered it. The other young shinobi walked through after him, but Tashiro was the most reluctant.

"Come on, kid," Hiroshi gently pushed him forward, "Don't worry, you were born for this."

After crossing through the portal. They all reappeared in a dimension that looked like a battleground. Specifically, it was a replica of a battleground of the Second Great Shinobi War. The young men were surprised to see shinobi from several villages clashing all around them.

"Well, this is definitely not where I thought we'd end up," Kakashi yelled to them over the sound of the soldiers' cries, "Be careful, this isn't just some kind of genjutsu."

"This is when the Goddess of Water's presence was rumored to have left the region around Amegakure completely," Hiroshi said, "Her power strangely grew stronger in the Land of Water around this time."

"I don't understand," Saku said, "Why are we here?"

"The power of the Goddess of Fire was involved here," Hiroshi said, "Since this time, tension has been growing among her and her sisters. In ancient times, wars like this were said to reflect shifts in their relationships."

"It seems symbolic," Kakashi said, "It could mean that Katsu is trying to start a conflict large enough to provoke the Goddesses."

Hiroshi then turned to Tashiro.

"Defend yourself, but don't be eager to use your special powers," Hiroshi warned.

A few enemy shinobi ran up to attack Inoharu, but Inoharu swiftly knocked them out with a Yamanaka jutsu.

"Seems like I'll be needing to use my axes after all," Tenji said, as another armed group of men began approaching and yelling at him.

Hiroto used his Byakugan to study the area. Even with his visual prowess, he could find no way to escape.

Kakashi looked around and then saw something that made him take a few steps back.

"No..."

He saw a man with silver hair fighting off two enemies. The silver hair man was the soon to be famous White Fang of the Leaf.

Before Kakashi could fully take in that his father was so close by, the White Fang was stabbed.

"Dad!" he said as he leaned forward. Hiroshi grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"That can't be your father, Kakashi. There's no way," Hiroshi said, "I think I know what kind of place we're in. It's a punishment dimension. They call it Hell of Many Names. And this very well may be just the beginning of a long, cruel stay. Katsu is here, I am only barely able to sense him because our chakra was linked for a long time. We are definitely going to have to fight to get to him."

—

It was three days.

Yukina, Yoiko and the other kunoichi were inside Tenten's orange glass prison for three days before the glass shattered. Most of them were completely unaware of how long they had been inside the glass, but Yoiko and Yukina knew instinctively that too much time had passed.

As Yoiko comforted the younger kunoichi, Yukina walked to the edge of the summit and looked down.

The energy had shifted. The sky was nearly cloudless, yet something was brewing around them. Yoiko fell unease in her stomach. She could see some of the other kunoichi glancing over at Yukina which indicated that she was causing a change in the atmosphere. They knew she was the source of the next big storm.

"It's okay," Yoiko whispered to some of the young kunoichi. Yoiko knew something dreadful would happen, but she wanted to soothe them. She learned about the importance of being gentle from Yumi and the importance of remaining calm from Yasu. But from Yukina, Yoiko learned to value perfection. To chase after it until it is achieved or to die trying. From Yukina she was about to learn yet another unfortunate lesson.

"How?" Yukina said. Her voice had changed from that of a young lady to that of a powerful, domineering woman.

"What does she mean?" a kunoichi whispered to Yoiko. Yoiko felt a lump in her throat that prevented her from responding immediately.

"Yasu, she failed," Yukina said. She could no longer connect to or sense the chakra of her lord or Yasu and the other kunoichi. Yukina knew that her lord was not dead, but he was absent in their world.

Yoiko closed her eyes.

"Maybe," Yoiko said, trying to prevent her voice from shaking, "But our lord was the one who gave Yasu her mission."

"Are you blaming our master?" Yukina said. Her voice had become more sinister. Tears welled in a few of the kunoichi's eyes. Yoiko chose her next words carefully.

"I am just saying it's possible that Yasu did exactly as she was told. That she perished, but...perhaps that was what our lord intended."

"You think he intended to kill her?" Yukina responded.

"I think her death, like the death of others, may have prevented the mission from failing."

"I'm not sure I understand you, Yoiko. Did Yasu fail or did our master fail?"

Yoiko looked into the eyes of several of the scared kunoichi. She remembered once feeling as vulnerable and uncertain as they were. If there were ever a time for Yoiko to be a coward, it certainly was not that time. Yoiko stood up and walked closer to Yukina who was still looking down from the cliff. Pushing Yukina off the cliff had crossed Yoiko's mind, but she knew that the idea would never work. Yoiko knew it was impossible to trick or deceive Yukina, to even consider the idea was very foolish, to say the least.

"I think Lord Kichiro failed. He may have gotten the Goddess of Fire's grand sword, but he hasn't returned to us like he promised to. He may never do so," Yoiko said. She said it with all of the firmness she could muster. Several gusts of wind filled the space between Yoiko's bold statement and Yukina's reply.

"Lord Kichiro..." Yukina said, "he was an interesting man. Not perfect, but strong. Committed. Determined. But he has changed recently, I can tell. I know you've been proud to be a part of his kunoichi band for so long. I knew you were eager to be accepted when he and I met you back then. I knew why you joined him then. But if you knew that he had changed, would you still follow him?"

The young kunoichi held onto one another and closed their eyes to prepare for what they thought would be a horrible death.

"I, um," Yoiko whispered, "I can't answer that."

"Would you follow him...or would you follow me?" Yukina said. She turned her head to the side so that Yoiko could see the left side of her mask. The dark energy that surrounded Yukina then intensified significantly.

Yoiko then had a vision. She saw all of the times she had trained with Yukina over the two years since they had met. From the beginning until that moment, Yoiko had usually chosen to be in the same group as Yukina. She had always been attracted to Yukina's power and she had always known deep down that Yukina outranked their lord. Yoiko's eyelids grew heavier and she started to lose her balance. As she fell to her knees, she managed to utter another statement.

"Yes, Lady Yukina," Yoiko said, "I will follow you always."

"Good," Yukina then turned and placed a hand on the hypnotized Yoiko's face, "Because only I can show you what true power feels like. I will reward your loyalty with something so divine the Goddesses themselves will be jealous."

Over the period of an hour Yukina's dark energy had become so strong that sensory type shinobi in the Hidden Cloud felt a level of unease they had never felt before. Many of them had visited the Raikage's office to report an ominous presence they could feel growing strong in the area west of the village.

Although the Raikage initially believed that the presence came from the Land of Fire, after hearing several reports he was no longer sure if that dark energy had any connection to any Great Nation at all. What he did know was that the sensory type shinobi would not be the only ones agitated by the threat.

He was unprepared to handle how chaotic the situation was about to become.

As he grumbled some instructions to shinobi who were about to exit his office, Mabui entered. She was unusually panicked and yet hesitated to say anything immediately.

"Well, what is it now?" the Raikage said, "Any news from the Hokage about why she's pushing us to the brink of war?"

"No, sir, I haven't received any updates from the shinobi we sent to the Land of Fire. But, sir, we have an urgent situation. I just got word of a power surge."

"Yes, I know, there seems to be an ominous power on the Great Clashing mountain."

"Yes, sir, but that isn't the only power we should be worried about right now," Mabui said.

"Is it Bee?" the Raikage said through gritted teeth.

"No, Lord Bee is all right," Mabui said, "It's the girl. She's awake."

The Raikage grunted and shook his head.

"Then we need to apply another seal and teleport her. It's only a matter of time before-"

Purple lightning flashed across the sky and it was followed by thunder and then the earth shook beneath them.

"Have the sealing corps and the special task force shinobi go to her chambers. Quickly, we don't have enough time to waste!"

He finished his statement by slamming a fist into his desk. Mabui ran to assemble the forces needed to secure the restless Kumo girl before she became as powerful of a threat as the enemy on the mountain.

On the Great Clashing mountain, Yukina continued to amasse dark energy which was eventually felt by Narumi who had been traveling with Naruto on foot for days through the Land of Lightning.

"Ah, damn!" Narumi said as she put a hand on her head.

"What? Oh, are you going to faint again? I can carry you on my back, but just know I'm running out of energy myself, so we'll have to stop somewhere soon."

"No, I'm feeling something dangerous coming from the northeast. Hold on, let me check something out. I'm going to summon the shadow bird."

"But didn't you say it was dangerous to fly right now?"

"Yeah, but I'm not summoning her to fly right now. Just watch."

Narumi summoned the large black bird. The bird moved its head from side to side and then it began to squawk frantically and flap its wings rapidly.

"Ok, ok, girl, easy now!" Narumi said as she tried to calm the bird.

The birds squawking continued but Naruto and Narumi used their shadow clones to prevent the bird from flying off. After minutes of wrestling with the bird, Narumi weaved a few hand signs and it disappeared.

"Well, that was a bad sign," Naruto said.

"Yeah, a really bad sign, do you know what this means?"

"Uuuuh...hmmmm...hmmmm..."

Knowing it would take him forever for him to come up with a real answer, Narumi sighed.

"It means someone is summoning chakra from another dimension. One of the void dimensions, a place like where that shadow bird was born. The bird freaked out because that is not supposed to happen in a world like this, it would cause mass devastation. I mean, in order to do a summoning like that, a person would need to Goddess level power!"

"What, you mean someone like Lady Kanoko?"

"Sort of, but this person would also have to have a strong connection to a shadow dimension."

As they spoke about what they should do next, the dark energy vanished. Narumi's eyes widened.

"They're gone..." she said.

"If they're as dangerous you say they are, we have to catch up with them. Can you still travel between worlds right now?"

"I can't do that on my own, I can only communicate between worlds, but I'm still too weak to make that connection," she said, "I have the Nine Tails chakra, but we can't risk using that."

"Well, we can try to combine our power to contact some comrades who can help, we're the same person after all, you know?"

Narumi smiled, though she worried that the use of another interdimensional jutsu could further disrupt the balance in the world.

"It's still risky, but it's worth a try."

She grabbed Naruto's hands and taught him the hand signs they would need to perform together. After they did the jutsu, their minds linked and Narumi searched through the worlds until they came across a familiar consciousness.

—

"Ino, are you ready?" Lady Tsunade said. Ino opened one eye as Katsuyu was healing her external wounds.

"Almost," she replied.

In Lady Tsunade's time-space, Ino, Sakura, Hinata and Yumi were all planning on accompanying Lady Tsunade to her battle with Kanoko's sister, Yua Nishi. Because Yua was in Kanoko's body, Tsunade had to come up with several plans for incapacitating Yua without killing Kanoko. Each of her plans involved some form of sealing, and each would be very difficult to carry out.

Tsunade had entrusted the defeat of Katsu to Hiroshi and Kakashi, but she knew better than to expect Katsu to go down easily. Although she was worried about the men, she had to force herself to focus only on her own battle preparations.

Of the four kunoichi, Hinata was the most visibly nervous. During her encounter with Katsu, she was able to put on a brave face, but she could sense that they were all in grave danger. She couldn't yet see the threat, but she felt it in her bones.

Tenten and the guardian spirit within her were in sync, but the guardian warned Tenten not to be quick to power up.

"_You must remember to use very little chakra when you begin fighting. You must also stay calm so that you may fight effectively and also so that I may help you analyze your opponent._"

"_I will" _Tenten responded.

Tsunade stretched and cracked her knuckles. Before Katsuyu removed herself from her shoulder, Katsuyu whispered to Ino.

"I've healed your superficial wounds, but there's something wrong with your chakra network," the slug said, "I'm sure Lady Tsunade wouldn't mind if you stayed back and finished your healing."

"I couldn't do that," Ino whispered back, "There's a lot at stake here, but trust me, I've given this some thought. I know I want to be there by Lady Tsunade's side. I _must _be there."

Little did Ino know, Tsunade could hear everything that was said because she was the master of that space. She had a plan to shield Ino and the other young kunoichi as soon as the fight became more intense.

Yumi watched each one of them as they prepared to leave the time-space. Although she was included in their battle plans, Yumi felt very out of place. Hinata, sensing Yumi's discomfort, put a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay, we're all together, and we have a lot of power we can use to protect one another," Hinata said, "No matter what, we won't lose. I promise."

In saying that to Yumi, Hinata was also reassuring herself. She was pushing down the bad feeling within her and trying to make space for hope.

But the bad feeling was in all of them, some just acknowledged it more than others. Even when they all declared that they were ready to locate and confront Yua, the uncertainty of what lay ahead bothered them.

The incoming message from Narumi and Naruto reached Ino and gave her an excuse to stay still for just a while longer.

"_Ino! Ino!"_

"_What, Naruto?"_

"_There's something seriously bad going on over here, Narumi's shadow bird thing confirmed it! There was this dark energy here and it might be moving through dimensions!"_

"_Shadow bir— Naruto, what the hell, slow down! What is happening?"_

Narumi explained the ominous energy and told Ino her theory. The other kunoichi watched as Ino turned pale.

"But I don't understand...how could that be...how could..." Ino said aloud.

Naruto and Narumi continued speaking, but their voices faded. Ino tried her best to maintain the connection, but eventually she lost them completely. She tried desperately to reconnect with them, but only ended up getting a headache.

Hinata and Tenten looked at Ino with concern. Yumi glanced at each of their faces, not knowing what to do next. Seeing a couple of kunoichi openly expressing concern about their friends was new to Yumi.

Ino's eyes remained closed. She refused to give up trying to reach them. In looking for Narumi and Naruto, she found someone else.

Tsunade's eyes widened.

"Something's headed this way, be on your guard," Tsunade said. All kunoichi except Ino, got into their defensive positions.

"Should we try to block it before it gets here?" Tenten said.

"No!" Ino said abruptly, "Let it come in. It's not dangerous. It...can't hurt us. It's-"

"Like a friend?" Hinata said to Ino.

Ino did not respond. It was then that she took the defensive position. She planted her feet firmly and looked ahead as she pulled out a kunai.

The "thing" appeared a good distance from them. It was easy to identify and did not seem ready to attack. Ino still wanted to be careful. Yumi frowned, but leaned forward.

It was a girl. She was covered in an orange cloak, and had dark circles under her eyes. She took a step forward, and almost collapsed. In her hand was a sword that she used like a crutch until she was able to balance herself. She opened her mouth, but it took a minute for words to actually come out.

"The Mizukage freed me," she said in a shaky voice, "She said...she said she would forget about the charges against me. Apparently, we all have bigger problems now."

The girl briefly put her hand to her neck which periodically burned as though it was on fire. Tears rolled down her face as she hung her head.

"Sakura..." Hinata said.

The sword in Sakura's hand shook as she cried. She approached Tsunade slowly and then knelt down to offer the sword to the Hokage.

"I'm sorry, I never should have left!" Sakura wailed, "But this power and my anger were eating me alive, and now look at me! You probably don't even trust me, and I don't blame you. I tried to convince myself that leaving the village was the right thing to do, but I've stolen this sword and betrayed you, and my guilt is unbearable. I've felt horrible this whole time! I've failed you, Lady Tsunade, I'm so sorry!"

Sakura cried before Tsunade and bowed her head to express her deep regret. She held the sword with both hands above her head as she waited for her master to grab it.

To everyone else's shock, Tsunade slapped Sakura's hands away, and the Senju sword fell to the side. Sakura then proceeded to place both of her hands on her face and sobbed louder.

"You can cry all day and night if you need to. Scream as loud as your lungs will allow. Punch or kick whatever you'd like if it would help you forgive yourself. You don't need my forgiveness or understanding, and frankly, your comrades are the ones who you need to convince to forgive you. But that's not important right now. You need to get up and pull yourself together. You need to be prepared to help make all of this right. That is how you redeem yourself. When this is all over you can cry for centuries. But today, Sakura Haruno, you need to fight!"

Sakura sniffled and stood up. The other kunoichi walked up from behind Tsunade to discuss how Sakura would fit into their battle plans.

"Okay," Sakura said, "I'll do that then. I'll fight."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: Tsunade's Battle

_At times like this, I long for rain to wash over us all._

I am Tsunade.

I am one of the legendary sannin, a well-known medical ninja, and the Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure.

I am also the friend of Kanoko Nishi, the keeper of the Goddess of Fire's chakra. At one point, I was her best friend. But now it is clear to me that I have failed her more than just a few times. I will now tell you about how I tried to make up for it all.

...

It didn't take me long to find her. Yua had been waiting in a different time-space for me for a while and I could sense her thirst for blood far before I arrived there. Before I entered the realm where Yua stood, I told the girls to stay behind me. They protested and said that they had not agreed to be left out. I simply told them to wait for their cue, and I left them there to debate among themselves.

As Hokage, I wanted to protect them, but as a kunoichi, I understood how important it was for them to prove that they were ready to fight, to prove that they were brave and strong. I feel that way everyday, I knew exactly what they were going through.

When I teleported into the place where Yua was waiting for me, I saw Kanoko's body leaning against a statue of a Land of Fire daimyo of the past. We were in a field, surrounded by tall grass and the sound of crickets came from the many distant trees. Kanoko's eyes were closed.

"Well, I'm here now," I said as I folded my arms and planted my feet firmly on the ground, "Are you going to fight or have you turned coward?"

For a moment, Kanoko seemed like an extension of the statue. As the wind pushed her hair aside and rustled her blouse, I could see something in her face shift.

"Before we begin," she started, "I have a request."

The voice that came from that body sounded like Kanoko's, but the slight hint of playful malice was Yua's. Suddenly, I had a vision of two orange haired little girls running and laughing through my village. A third little orange hair girl ran behind them to catch up. They were all headed toward me, and they called out for me to join them. In this vision, I felt like a child again, and nostalgic peace came over me. It was almost perfect except I couldn't move and those three little girls passed right through me.

I began to cry as if mourning the past that once was. I had allowed myself to remain in that genjutsu for a few seconds to remember my friend and her sisters as they were. That experience brought me as much joy as it did pain. When I finally snapped out of it, I no longer saw Kanoko at all. The person standing before me became Yua entirely. She appeared as Kanoko's age and wore an orange kimono with the Nishi clan symbol on the chest. Yua was the perfect mix of elegant and charismatic with a hint of something sinister.

I had seen her in the war, so I knew what kind of fighter she was. I didn't let her apparent grace make me forget how she mowed down enemies with a deadly swiftness. I know that few things would stop her from drawing blood from anyone she deemed an enemy. Since I have my own issues with blood, I knew fighting her would be the toughest fight of my life.

"What is your request?" I said. She looked at me with amusement. I kept a neutral expression, although doing so truly burned me up inside.

"That we fight in honor of our youth," she said.

"Meaning?"

"Oh, Tsunade," Yua said, "You know exactly what I mean, dear. Think about it for a moment."

Another vision flashed through my head. I could see a teenage Yua angrily pointing at my face and screaming. I could feel the same anger I felt that many years ago. The young Yua's words were no more than buzzed at first. Then I could hear her clearly.

"_You have no right, Tsunade!"_ young Yua said, "_You have no right to barge in here and make demands and promise us what you can't deliver!" _

I remember that time well. Kanoko had gotten sick and was bedridden for many weeks. She was too frail to move to the hospital so several medical nin would come to her home to treat her. Unfortunately, their treatments weren't working, and I decided to go over and care for her myself. Over a few days, I used several medical jutsu and took notes on how she was improving. Just as I was sure that she was going to make a full recovery, her illness became far worse than it was before.

Naturally, Yua blamed me. That day, Aoi and several members of the Nishi clan gathered outside of the sick wing of Kanoko's home as Yua and I stood facing each other in the doorway of Kanoko's room. I was going to tend to Kanoko, but Yua blocked me from entering the room. I remember Kanoko coughing weakly and asking us not to fight.

"_Move, kid,"_ I said, "_I have to treat your sister right now, I don't have time for your stupid games."_

"_No! You're making her worse! You don't know what you're doing! I don't care how long I have to stand here, I will never let you pass. You are killing my sister!"_

"_Yua, move!"_

"_No, I won't let you murder her! You're...you're gonna kill her if you keep coming here! Leave now!"_

Then came Yua's tears. Her arms shook in the doorway as she continued to block me.

"_I'm not killing her, sometimes people get better before they get worse. I've seen this kind of thing before, trust me, I-"_

"_No, I-I don't trust you. You don't get it! The chakra she has is special, if you don't know what you're doing you're going to kill her! Tsunade the murderer! That's who you'll become! You're killing her, you've been killing her and calling it "treatment"! Stop it!"_

Because my temper was terrible back then, I remember slamming my fist into the side of the door frame. I accidentally broke the section of the frame just above Yua's right hand.

"_No, Yua, STOP IT!" _I shouted, "_If Kanoko doesn't get treatment, she dies! And if she dies, that is on YOU!"_

I then shoved Yua and she fell and landed on her back. Tears of sadness and pain covered Yua's face.

"_Yua...Tsunade," _Kanoko said weakly, "_Please...don't fight..."_

I remember shaking my head as I started the next phase of Kanoko's treatment. Only the defeated and muffled sobs of Yua could be heard for several seconds.

Then I said it.

"_We weren't fighting. Fighting implies that both sides have a shot at winning. Yua can't fight me. Even if she tried, she'd never win."_

_..._

In hindsight, I was being a cocky brat. But I believed I was right, and clearly Yua still wanted to prove me wrong after all those years.

The Yua before me shifted again. As I expected, she changed into a version of herself that I had shoved down those years before. Despite the fact that Kanoko did become healthy again, Yua still hated me. The hate I sensed came from a number of things, some conflicting, some major and others minor. Yua hated me because Kanoko got better, and because Yua could never save Kanoko herself. She hated me for the matches and spares I won when we were younger. She hated me for the attention her sister gave me that she wanted for herself. Most of all, Yua Nishi, hated me because I possessed the Goddess power that was supposed to stay within her clan. I handled it better than she could, and that hatred was so strong, it almost scared me.

"Fine," I said. I closed my eyes and used my jutsu. I felt my body shift back to that of the bratty teen girl. I was truly ready to fight then.

"Excellent," my opponent said.

Before I could take my next breath, she charged and struck me in my stomach with great force. We traveled so far backward, we broke through hundreds of trees and passed over a body of water. We landed in a completely different forest. In this forest, the trees were charred black and what was left of the leaves had mixed into the dark dirt around us.

"I'm not looking to fight you, Tsunade," Yua said, "I'm looking to beat you. But I can't take full pleasure in it, if you don't at least try to fight. You know, show me how I'll never win."

In my opinion, the intensity of her hatred did not match any offense I had committed. That didn't make her hatred any less potent. I felt it as she pinned me to a tree with one forearm and punched me repeatedly. Her strength nearly matched mine and, I'll admit, I was shocked at how fast she powered up.

The punches didn't hurt much, but it was disturbing to see the glee in her eyes that I saw between blows. She didn't just want me dead, she wanted me destroyed. Too bad for her I never go down easily.

In a few seconds, as I had planned, I absorbed a large portion of her chakra. As expected, she attempted to pull it back into her body as she backed away from me. The Goddess of Fire chakra is a tricky thing. When it is transferred, it can give the receiver great power, but if the one receiving the chakra already has an unstable mind, it can do great damage.

Even with my great chakra control, I struggled to integrate her chakra into my body. I did it so I could do a thorough chakra reading to expose critical vulnerabilities in her that my heightened senses couldn't pick up clearly. When our chakra had unlinked, I knew that the best way to attack her was from either above or underground.

As I was adjusting myself to jump up and crash her into the ground, the charred trees around us cracked. The horrible growl of some unseen beast came from beneath our feet. I had just jumped in time to avoid falling through the cracks of the splitting earth.

I then found myself standing on a large chunk of dirt which floated upward. As I moved closer to the dreadful red sky, I looked below to see many large white dragons slither around below. The trees had stretched above us to form a barrier and I was trapped between that barrier and the floating dirt beneath me. In short, my attack plan wouldn't work.

My opponent stood on a floating rock of her own that had quickly moved far away from me. She weaved hand signs that were too quick for the untrained eye to perceive, but I knew it was a fire style jutsu.

"Art of the Goddess: Heaven's Inferno!" Yua said. The trees stretched closer to me, forcing me to crouch down. The enormous wall of fire seemed to slowly move toward me as I punched above and stomped below me to escape.

"_No good," _I thought, "_I can't break this, better switch forms."_

I used a jutsu technique from the book to release my physical form, and I took on the form of deep red flames which allowed the approaching wall of fire to pass through me. As it turned out, the only way to fight fire was quite literally with fire. The flames of the Goddess of Fire could not be extinguished easily, even by one who possessed the same chakra.

Once Yua's fire wall passed through me, I reformed, but I had to move quickly. The trees around me and the floating piece of earth I had stood on before had been destroyed by the attack, so I leapt to another floating piece of Earth. The dragons hissed below me and blew their smoke upward, but did not strike me. I could sense that their hesitance was due witnessing my power, but they would not hold back for long. In my transformation, I had burned the outer layer of my clothes off, but the white bodysuit that I had summoned before the battle was revealed. The jutsu that gave me the suit was an extra gift from my counterpart in the other dimension who said that it would come in handy.

It found it interesting that the bodysuit was white, not orange or red as I would have expected. But that was unimportant.

The floating earth I jumped on broke away soon after I landed on it, and I knew it was time to use the teleportation jutsu.

"Art of the Goddess: Merged Flames!"

This allowed me to teleport directly in front of Yua, to her surprise. I slammed my hand to her chest to destabilize her chakra network and felt an excruciating pain in the palm of my hand. Her chakra network was protected by several jutsu and I only was able to break through a few of them in that second. The burning sensation traveled up my arm and through my chest. Although I had weakened her, my body was damaged by the contact.

"My dear Tsunade, don't you realize, that in trying to hurt me, you are only hurting yourself," Yua then twisted my wrist and snapped it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said through gritted teeth.

"It means I know the ways to hurt you the most. I've been watching you all of these years, I studied your power through my sister's eyes and I've witnessed it for myself a number of times. You may be stronger, but you're very predictable, dear Tsunade. If you had ever really paid attention to my power, you wouldn't be suffering as much for misusing yours."

I teleported myself away from her to allow my body to heal itself. Apparently, she had done more than just crack my wrist. Her self-protecting seals had offensive properties that I couldn't sense before contact. I was able to stop the burning within me, but there was another threat I sensed a bit too late.

I began to cough and my breathing became shallow. Hyperventilating followed that, and then something exploded from my chest. It was a blast of pure energy which left a bloody hole between my breasts. The sight of the blood caused me to almost lose my balance.

_N-no, not right now, _I thought, _Not when I haven't even done any damage. I won't go down like this._

I sped up the healing process which I was able to do with my own medical ninjutsu. I would pay for that later, but it didn't matter. Beating her was more important and I even began to enjoy the idea of pounding her face in.

I used the teleportation jutsu again, but this time I was smarter. I had created chakra gloves for my fists and punched Yua, which sent her skipping over at least fifty floating dirt mounds like a rock on water. I teleported once more to where she had landed and I could see the hatred in her eyes as she laid motionless. She already began to heal herself, but then I slammed my foot down into the side of one of her knees. She cried out, but something about that seemed fake. I was disgusted by her. I got down to her level and hit her repeatedly in the face and in the chest. After several minutes, I sensed that she was unconscious and I promptly slid her body off of the floating earth so that it would fall to the dragons.

Little did I know, Yua regained consciousness quickly and she could teleport, too. She vanished from sight just after I sent her falling.

"Ugh, of course," I said.

Just then, several of the beasts flew up to attack me. I summoned my grandfather's sword and infused it with Goddess chakra. My heightened agility allowed me to jump around them and slash through them without much issue. As I tried to sense Yua as the number of dragons increased. There were at least a hundred of them surrounding me as the ground beneath me once again broke apart.

I jumped around until I spotted a large, stable rock to land on. The beast encircled me, and I was drenched in sweat. Oddly, my white jumpsuit was no longer bloodily and looked as good as new. I gathered the energy to blast several of them at once, and just as I was about to release I had to stop myself. I sensed someone else approaching.

A large dragon made of fire descended down near the rock I stood on.

The mighty fire dragon grew even larger and encircled me, separating me from the other dragons.

"Release!" I heard Tenten say. The fire dragon then moved quickly to annihilate most of the other dragons. It rushed past each of them and sent flame in every direction and I watched as the inferior dragons were defeated. Tenten soon landed in front of me from above. Her eyes glowed orangish-red and she wore armor of the same color.

"Sorry, Lady Tsunade," she said, "I know you told us not to get involved so soon, but the guardian spirit that I have within me used her power to bring us here. We sensed you were in danger."

"No, no I told you all I'd be fine!" I said, "You were to stay back until you received orders from me, don't you know how dangerous this is?"

"Yes, and I also know I could help," Tenten's voice shifted to that of the guardian, "Please remain still as I eliminate all of the obstacles around you."

She then leapt from the rock I had been standing on to go down to where the many dragons had fallen. Although she was far away, I could see Tenten place her palms together.

"Art of the Goddess: Return to the Kingdom!"

The last of the fallen beast had landed right beside her, and I saw as they shed their physical form and their chakra moved into her body.

"I am the guardian of these beasts, whoever aims to control them, is an enemy I will slaughter. I swear on my life! If there are any foul spirits who wish to challenge me, reveal yourselves!"

The momentary silence that followed allowed me to refocus on locating Yua. Before I could turn in Yua's direction, humanoid beings covered in thick armor emerged from the ground among the broken pieces of the charred trees. They were three times Tenten's height, and I could sense their killing intent.

The only thing that kept me from leaping down immediately was the appearance of several other familiar kunoichi. First, landed Ino, who managed to blast several of the humanoid beings' heads off with a stunning mind jutsu. Then, there was Hinata who used her clan's jutsu to push many of the enemies with such force that they exploded. With her own mighty sword, Tenten slashed her opponents away with grace and ease. They were fighting well above three hundred enemies, but the opposing side's numbers were not an issue for my kunoichi. I had never been prouder of a group of shinobi than I was in that moment. But my admiration had to be put aside, my duty was most important.

_It's okay, I see now that they can handle this,_ I thought. I stepped back and closed my eyes before teleporting once again. I knew that Yua had changed dimensions and I had a good feeling that I was approaching the final destination of our battle.

When I caught up with her, we were both in a version of Konohagakure that had been demolished. The buildings that usually stood tall had crumbled and not a soul was there besides ours. Something in Yua had shifted once more, and that change made me very uneasy.

"I believe it would be best for you to die where you have lived, where your memories are. It's a good place to think about all of those people you have let down. To reflect on how you're no one's savior and how everyone you have loved has suffered because of you. Your love is a curse, Tsunade. Accept that and you will find it easy to die here."

The words that came from her mouth then bothered me more than anything else she had said. Something about them felt different, and then my mind shifted completely from Kanoko and Yua. It was clear in that moment that I had overlooked something very important. My enemy was not at all who I thought she was.

We stood atop the replica of the Hokage's building, I looked down at my shaking hands. I barely suppressed a flashback that would have certainly sent me out of my mind.

I charged at her with intense anger. She blocked my attack, but I struck her again. One in the upper arm, once in the chest, and once in the face. I could feel nothing physically, but dread engulfed me along with the rage.

This chakra, it works with your emotions. Anger can make it stronger. If it becomes stronger, you can lose control and you can also lose so much more.

I kicked her across the roof and she slammed into a barrier. Before, I will admit I held back because I wanted to protect Kanoko and I did not want blood. Somehow then, everything in my view seemed to be covered in blood. There was blood on my hands, blood on my jumpsuit, and everything was tinted red. My opponent got back up and taunted me again, but I couldn't hear her.

I flung her far across the village into what remained of an apartment complex. I teleported to beat her into the brick wall over and over. She slashed me in the face and I felt the blood trickle down my forehead. I wiped it from above my brow before kicking my enemy with all of my might down below to the ground. I leaped from a balcony to land my finishing move which I knew would break nearly every bone in her body.

Once I jumped, I knew exactly what would follow. As I came down I could feel the heat overwhelm my body. I was releasing my power and I was willing to let go of my own life just to end my enemy for good. A massive ball of heat destroyed the ground and remnants of the dilapidated buildings that surrounded us. The sound of the explosion was like nothing I had ever experienced and the feeling of it would take a million years to describe. The pain in my soul then was unbearable.

But it was done. I had done it.

And then the weight of it all hit me at once. As the ash settled, my body cooled and my consciousness drifted. Unbelievable strength can lead to incredible loss. As I always knew, after victory, came mourning.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One: The Passing of Great Power

Kakashi, Hiroshi, and the young men battled their way through hundreds of shinobi before Katsu revealed himself to them. The battlefield in Hell of Many Names was littered with bodies and the allied shinobi were near their limits. Hiroshi rested his hands on his thighs as his heart pounded and his vision blurred. Hiroto and Tenji went to aid him as Inoharu watched several other shinobi around them begin to disappear. Saku and Tashiro stood back to back, trying to catch their breath. They were the first to notice a chance in the ground beneath them. Sakumaru could sense it becoming unstable and Tashiro could feel the water coming up from far below them.

"We gotta move now," Sakumaru said, "We got trouble below us."

"Yeah, something's definitely up, all of the warring shinobi are gone now," Inoharu added, as he flipped his long ponytail back over his shoulder.

"There's nowhere to go," Hiroshi said as he tried to steady his breath "The best thing we can do right now is to make sure we keep our feet glued to the ground. We're about to go on a wild ride."

The sudden sound of water rapidly moving upward beneath their feet frightened them, but they did as they were told and concentrated their chakra at the bottoms of their feet. The ground broke open and a restless body of water quickly formed around them from below. Inoharu drifted backwards from the group as large waves began to push them all around.

"Hang on, everyone!" Hiroshi said. Great gusts of wind threatened to push the male shinobi off of the small pieces of ground that they stood on, but they were able to hang on.

"I'm going after Inoharu," Saku yelled.

"Sakumaru, wait!" Kakashi called. But it was no use, Sakumaru used the chakra streaming to his feet to shift his little island and go off to rescue his friend.

"Is anyone else finding it exceptionally hard to control their chakra right now, or is it just me?" Tashiro yelled.

"Don't focus on that, we're being pulled toward the enemy now. Do what you have to do to stay upright!"

The team of shinobi were shifted forward, but they found it difficult to see ahead. Hiroto activated his Byakugan.

"We're headed towards a mass of energy. Strangely, I can't make out a human form, but I bet it's the enemy."

Suddenly, they began moving faster and the jerking movements pulling them around made them dizzy.

"We're almost there everyone!" Hiroshi said, "Prepare yourselves to strike with all your might!"

When they finally encountered Katsu, he glowed a bright blue and the outline of his body was difficult to make out. His voice boomed over the sound of the vicious wind and his presence was far more threatening than before.

"Are you ready for the inevitable, my friends?" Katsu said to them.

"Air Palm!" Hiroto said. A large gust of wind shot far across the water from his palm and crushed the floating rocks surrounding Katsu. This attack was immediately followed by one of Tenji's spears which was powerful enough to crack through several layers of hardened rock. Although the water, wind, and rock were all impacted by the combo attack, Katsu was unaffected.

"That was...cute, I suppose, in a very sad way," Katsu said, "Shall I go next?"

Hiroshi steadied himself on his feet and weaved a sign for a barrier wall jutsu. When Katsu sent his water jutsu attack toward them, the barrier blocked it, to the young mens' relief. Even so, the pressure of the enemy's attack put great strain on the barrier and they would need to launch offensive attacks in rapid succession in order to take down Katsu quickly. Hiroshi then encouraged Hiroto and Tenji to continue their attacks mercilessly.

"You can attack through the barrier, but he won't be able to get through it for some time" Hiroshi said, "Keep him distracted. Kakashi, Tashiro, and I will strike him when his defense is lowest!"

"We will?" Tashiro said.

"Yes, I realize that while I want to protect you, I also have to let you have a hand in this," Hiroshi responded, "Now get over here!"

Tashiro and Kakashi hopped over to Hiroshi who instructed them to huddle together and place a hand on each other's shoulders. He explained the plan to them and then used a jutsu that changed the forms of their bodies into pure water. They, as a collective, integrated with the water around them and slipped closer to Katsu who was occupied with deflecting Hiroto and Tenji's attacks.

Just as Katsu sensed their presence, Kakashi, Tashiro and Hiroshi formed a massive water dragon. At first Katsu was able to manage firing blasts of energy at the water dragon while defending against Hiroto and Tenji.

Then something bizarre happened. Katsu managed to hit the water dragon and gained a brief advantage over it, but he then collapsed to his knees.

"No...no, impossible," Katsu said. The glow around his body diminished and he resumed his previous appearance, "Again, again! Again with this! Why! WHY!"

He continued to scream as his face contorted and he pulled at his hair. Hiroto and Tenji exchanged confused looks. The large water beast exhaled some steam as its eyes locked on its opponent.

"WHY! WHY NOW! WHY HAS SHE CURSED ME SO! AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE!"

Katsu's body started to heat up and cracks appeared along his face.

"_What should we do?"_ Tashiro asked Hiroshi and Kakashi telepathically.

"_He appears to be losing his mind, but we have to act fast._" Hiroshi responded.

"_So we should strike? We should go ahead and just take him out?_" Tashiro asked for confirmation.

"_That's been the plan all this time, hasn't it?"_ Kakashi said, "_You've wanted to stop his abuse for a while now. We're here to help you do just that. Don't think about it too much. Don't dwell, just move."_

The massive water dragon growled once before it struck through Katsu's body. The force of the strike slammed the waves up and outward toward Tenji and Hiroto which shifted them back at a great speed.

The dragon merged with Katsu and their energies were entangled and sucked into a vortex. After they disappeared into the vortex, the waves were stilled, the sun came out, and the air gently caressed the water as if to soothe it.

Before Hinata, Ino and Tenten departed to join Lady Tsunade's fight, Yumi and Sakura experienced complications that would prevent them from fighting at maximum strength. Sakura's curse mark activated, and restricted her ability to use chakra while Yumi became occupied with something she was sensing in their original realm. Yumi decided to stay back with Sakura to interpret the meaning of what she was sensing. As Yumi scanned through dimensions, Sakura lay on her back and stared up into the formless infinity.

"Is this just how my life is going to be?" Sakura said, "Am I just going to be powerless and frustrated forever?"

"No, of course not," Yumi said, momentarily turning her attention away from the activity she was sensing, "Right now you're just having a moment of weakness. I've been where you are."

"Oh, yeah? So you know how it feels..."

"Yes, I was drowning in my own misery, feeling abandoned and useless. That's how he got me. My former lord saw the pain and anger in me, he understood it because he also had had those things inside of him. They ate away at his soul the way they did mine, and even though a small part of me knew that he could never help me, the power that he promised was appealing. I thought that if I were powerful enough, I wouldn't need to heal anything, that I could just eliminate my pain. But that wasn't the case. I had strength, but my misery seemed to become stronger as well. That was until you and I first exchanged blows and I was forced to release everything inside me. I don't know if it matters to you, but it was your strength that saved me."

"What?" Sakura said, "How did I save you?"

"When we fought back in your village, you had this unusual mix of Goddess chakra and healing energy. I think that's what did it. That combination struck me deeply. It was as though I was waking up after being asleep for a long time. Thank you, Sakura. You probably didn't mean to, but you saved me anyway."

Sakura was touched by Yumi's words, but she couldn't bring herself to respond. They sat in silence for almost ten minutes before Yumi jumped up.

"Oh...no!" Yumi said, "No...that's not...doesn't she know what she's doing?"

Sakura sat up and looked at Yumi. Yumi began to shake and Sakura got up to comfort her.

"What's wrong? Is it Lady Tsunade and the others?"

"No, it's Yukina. She has somehow amassed enough power to tear a hole into a dangerous realm. Since we were comrades for a while and we both possess Goddess power, she and I share a link, but I can't tell what exactly she's planning to do."

"Do you think she's acting in support or against your former master?" Sakura said.

"Likely against, I know she wanted the same power he did, but even he wouldn't dare to be this reckless. The fact that she could do something like this meant that she has lied to him about her capability. Only someone with an enormous amount of chakra and knowledge of various time-space techniques could perform this kind of jutsu and there is no way he knew about this. My clan had knowledge about this kind ability, but I never thought..."

"What? Never thought what?"

"Sakura, this is awful," Yumi shook her head, "We all have to go back to our world as soon as possible. I sense several hundred dimensions collapsing as we speak because of Yukina's jutsu."

"Damn it, we have to get this word to the others!"

They then heard loud cracking noises coming from every direction. They grabbed hold of each other and braced themselves for what followed. As they fell into the unknown, they let out piercing screams.

Under a blue sky, in a world turned to ash, Tsunade and the two Nishi sisters regained consciousness. Tsunade used what was left of her strength to pull herself up on her feet and stand over Kanoko and Yua. All of them were still in their teenage forms, but their bodies ached as though they were elderly.

"So," Tsunade said, "I guess this is goodbye."

Kanoko's eyes fluttered open and she looked at Tsunade before turning her head toward her sister. Tsunade put her hand on her sword preparing to use it, but Kanoko's words stopped her.

"Don't," Kanoko said, still gazing at Yua, "Yua's already dying, she's been dying for a while now. Let her be."

"And what about you?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know how long I have before I close these eyes of mine permanently," Kanoko said, "But I am very weak."

A cooling breeze whipped up the ashes surrounding them. The ashes stuck to the Nishi sisters' bodies, but seemed to sparkle on them like small jewels.

"Where is the other one?" Tsunade said, "There were three of you trapped in that body, weren't there?"

"Yes, there were three," Kanoko said, "There was one Yua used to silence me. I don't even know how that one was able to possess me, and as much as I'm embarrassed to admit it...I couldn't perceive her true nature. I was too busy fighting Yua all this time, trying to keep myself together."

"Yua, who was the third?" Tsunade said.

Yua didn't answer. She stared up at the sky as ash continued to decorate her body.

"Yua, please..." Kanoko said.

"Is this not enough," Yua croaked, "You have defeated me, why ask me anything?"

"I need to know," Tsunade pressed, "I know all of this isn't over, even though it is almost over for you. I have witnessed many people die, and just before they passed on, the people around them got to see the hidden parts of their soul. You don't want to say anything, but I can tell that you have regrets and the knowledge you're withholding is weighing on you. Please make this transition into your resting place easier for yourself. Answer me."

"Tsunade," Yua said, "You saw her, didn't you? The third soul. She took charge right before she left the fusion of our consciousnesses. Think. What type of person could possess another person's body and wreak such havoc? Who would speak to you the way she just did? You can answer these questions on your own. You know who you just tried to kill and it wasn't Kanoko and it wasn't even me."

Tsunade bit her lip.

"You're right," Tsunade sighed, "I do know what kind of person that was, but what I still don't understand is why. Why did you do this Yua? Why did you go along with Katsu?"

"That man. He was absurd, but he was not the monster you make him out to be. He saved me. I didn't die when Kanoko thought I did. I became part of nature, like a spirit. He found me and helped me reform, even if I was never able to fully be a person like I had been before, he was my companion. He cared for me."

"He used you to get to Kanoko."

"And you used Kanoko," Yua shot back, "Like the many others, you saw her as a vessel for power and nothing else! Don't even deny it!"

"That's not true, Yua," Kanoko spoke up, "Tsunade is one of the best friends I have ever had. I know it and I feel that truth in my soul. Katsu, he was not your friend. He would not have turned you against me and the world like this. The way he hurt those girls..."

"He was hurt, too!" Yua said, "Doesn't that count for anything? His pain mattered as well, he suffered through his life. And I made the choice to share that pain with him. He did hurt people, but he helped them as well. Isn't that how life goes?"

The disturbance in their original world reached them at that time. The sensed that someone had opened a portal to a nightmare-ish realm and destabilized several dimensions in the process. They were running out of time.

"Oh, dear," Kanoko said.

"It's that girl, Yukina. She's always showing off," Yua said quietly, "I guess she decided to betray him as well. How ungrateful, she was. He loved her very much, I'm sure of that."

"She doesn't know what she's doing, she's clearly power hungry like Katsu," Kanoko said, "I can do something about this, but Yua...It's nearly time for you...I can feel it."

Yua's body was then covered in sparkles and her eyelids slowly began to shut. Kanoko reached out to hold her younger sister's hand. Tsunade closed her eyes as Kanoko began to cry.

"You were always so sweet my dear sister. I am deeply sorry for the pain the world has caused you, and for any pain I have inflicted on you," Kanoko said through her tears, "My love for you will never die. Please...go now and be at rest."

Yua's body glowed brightly and then broke down into a billion small lights. The lights danced briefly before settling down. The wind brushed around them and carried those lights off and that signaled the end of Yua Nishi.

Tsunade let a few tears escape from her eyes once she opened them again to look at Kanoko.

"Do not cry, dear Tsunade," Kanoko smiled wearily, "Some lives are tragic from beginning to end, but yours is not. You will live on for the many of us who could not survive. The village and the world need you. Your kunoichi need you the most. Now please, take my hand, and I will tell you my final wishes. Then, we will stop this other threat, and I can see my loving husband once again."

Tsunade took Kanoko's hand. The most glorious energy flowed into their bodies and Tsunade knew that it was the purest energy of the Goddess of Fire a person could possess.

_Thank you, Kanoko. _Tsunade thought.

_Thank you for everything._

When Tashiro awoke, he found himself laying in bed in a house he did not recall ever visiting. Confused, he left his room and found himself in the dining area. There, he saw the real Kichiro sitting at a table reading a newspaper. Looking past the dining area, Tashiro could see a woman cooking in the kitchen. She happened to turn around and noticed Tashiro looking at her. He recognized the woman from old photos he had seen of her when he was younger. She was Kichiro's late wife who died young, and even though Tashiro had never met her, she greeted him as though they knew each other well.

"Well, good morning, sleepy head!" she said, "Breakfast is almost ready, take a seat and pour yourself some tea for right now."

Tashiro slowly knelt down at the table where Kichiro sat. Tashiro knew that place felt familiar, but he could not figure out why.

"So, you took Katsu out, huh?" Kichiro said without moving his eyes from his newspaper.

"Huh? Um, w-what do you mean?" Tashiro said.

"Oh, c'mon don't act all surprised," Kichiro smiled, "You know what you did."

Just then a child with brown skin, light yellow eyes, and light blue hair hurried into the room. Tashiro recognized him instantly. The child was Tashiro's adopted younger brother, Kenji, although he appeared to be a lot younger than the Kenji Tashiro knew in Tashiro's original world.

"Has anyone seen my ninja toy?" Kenji said.

"Oh, you mean your little doll?" the woman in the kitchen replied.

"No," Kenji said with a stomp, "It's an action figure!"

"Check your room, again, buddy," Kichiro said, "You'll find it."

"Okay!" Little Kenji scrambled back out of the room to search for his doll. Kichiro laughed and then put the newspaper on the table.

"That kid's so full of life, I love it," Kichiro said, "Now, how does it feel to be a hero?"

"A hero?"

"Modesty doesn't suit ya," Kichiro laughed again, "But seriously, you, Kakashi and Hiroshi did a great job defeating Katsu. I was imprisoned by him for many years and he was very wicked. I also saw how deeply his suffering was, and how that led him into a bad place, which also exposed me to some dark experiences. But you've freed me, and you've freed him as well. You stopped him from causing massive destruction and that earns you the title of hero in my book."

Tashiro's eyes widened and he gasped.

"But if we took out Katsu, does that mean...we, I mean, I-"

"No, you didn't kill me," Kichiro said, "To be honest, Katsu never had the power he wanted but constantly acted as though he did. Even after absorbing power from Hiroshi and I, Katsu used many jutsu he didn't have the chakra or skill to use properly. He was already growing very frail because of it. You separated me from him, but I had already used far too much energy over the years to try to keep him under control. When I lost my battle for control completely, I knew that my fate was tied with his. If it weren't for Hiroshi being tied up with us, I would have taken both Katsu and myself out long ago."

That news sent a chill down Tashiro's spine.

"Uncle Kichiro, I...I'm so sorry it had to be like this," Tashiro said, "I knew that I wanted to defeat Katsu for a while, but I could never do it on my own. I just kept thinking of you this whole time.

"It's okay, kid," Kichiro said, "It really is. I don't look like I'm suffering right now, do I?"

"Well, no. But I still wish I could spend more time with you. I haven't seen you in so many years, and I just remember being a kid and really looking up to you. I was proud that you were my uncle even if I generally only communicated with you through letters."

"It's alright, really. Oh, and stop calling me your uncle," Kichiro bit his lip and looked down for a few seconds, "Now that my time is almost up here, I think I can be honest."

Tashiro was bewildered for a moment by Kichiro's words. He looked at the man for several seconds and then it clicked for him. A lump formed in Tashiro's throat which made it hard for him to speak. Tashiro understood clearly what Kichiro was implying, but he was terrified to say the words himself.

"Yes, Tashiro Minazuki," Kichiro said warmly, "You are not my nephew, you are my son."

Kichiro then pointed toward the woman making breakfast.

"And that's..."

"My...my mother."

So many things began to make sense to Tashiro. He would later learn that his father, Kichiro had kept him safe from assassins for many years by giving him to other Minazuki clan members to raise. He would also learn so much more about the danger that surrounded his father's role as a guardian of the Goddess of Water's powers. He would learn all of that in time, but in that moment, he just felt an extraordinary sense of pride and happiness.

"I really wish we could have been a family, but with great power comes dangerous and a lot of uncertainty. I would never forgive myself if someone took you hostage just to spite me. I hope you can forgive me for that."

"Of course, I forgive you," Tashiro said, "It makes sense why I have this power now. Thank you so much, dad. I just hope I can honor you in my role as one of the Princes."

"Oh, you will do a fantastic job. I know it in my heart. But you will encounter many powerful foes, including a young woman named Yukina. She will be an exceptionally difficult enemy. You must stop at nothing to defeat her, but you will need help."

"Help?"

"Yes. The problems you will face will be bigger than just petty fights between shinobi. You must make allies, more specifically, you must bond with kunoichi who understand the kind of power you hold. With them and your fellow Mist shinobi, you can face any threat with confidence."

"I see. I will follow your advice, sir." Tashiro said with a bow.

"Hey, like I said, it's "dad" to you," Kichiro said, "Now drink your tea, and let's enjoy these last few moments we have together. Even when I pass from this Earth, I will always watch over you. It's cheesy, but I mean it. I love you infinitely and I will always be there for you, my son."

Tashiro held back his tears and nodded. He swore that he would defeat Yukina with his allies. Even though chaos would soon follow, in that instant, Tashiro embraced the peace surrounding him and shared his final meal with his father, the real great Lord Kichiro.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two: Only the Beginning

After the defeat of Katsu, Tsunade, Hiroshi and Kanoko regrouped in Tsunade's time-space. By combining what was left of their powers, they had managed to close the portal to the shadow dimension and save their original world from the devastation that would have occurred had more dark energy been pulled through. Although they were relieved to have stopped the most immediate threat, they also know that another great danger would soon follow.

"I can't thank you both enough for all that you've done," Tsunade said, "Your work will not go unrecognized in the village, that I can say for sure."

Kanoko and Hiroshi both smiled at her. They were at their limits due to the amount of energy they had exerted, but they were both the happiest they had been in a very long time. Just as they were about to depart, Kanoko and Hiroshi both took on their middle-aged forms, and Tsunade turned back into the form of the fifth Hokage everyone in Konoha would recognize.

"So, this is it," Kanoko said.

"It is," Tsunade bowed to them, and then Kanoko hugged her tightly.

"There's no need to be so formal, Lady Hokage," Kanoko laughed. Her laughter echoed in the time-space and made Tsunade smile. When Kanoko released Tsunade from her arms, Tsunade felt weaker than before. Kanoko had not absorbed Tsunade's chakra, in fact, the opposite was true. Kanoko transferred the last of her chakra to Tsunade, but that transfer left Tsunade feeling wounded. There the Hokage was, saying goodbye to a friend who had given her so much, yet would leave her feeling very empty inside.

"Remember, this is not the final goodbye," Kanoko said in a soothing tone, "I will stay as close to the living world as I can once I have passed on. There is still much to be done, and if I could stay in my physical form and fight alongside you, you know I would never hesitate to do so. Please, summon me the moment you need me the most. I will find you, no matter what it takes. Please say goodbye to the girls for me. Tell them that I believe in them with my whole heart. Know also that I believe in you. Goodbye for now...dear Tsunade."

Kanoko stepped back and held her husband's hand.

"Thank you, Tsunade," Hiroshi said, "Even though we are passing from this life, we will be with you in spirit forever. Take good care of the girls and the village, and don't forget to also take care of yourself."

The couple turned away from Tsunade and walked far off before disappearing together. Tsunade stood for a long time thinking of their words and the warmth of their presence. She felt cold once they were gone, but she knew that she couldn't dwell on that. She turned on her heels and exited her time-space with a heavy heart and a small glimmer of hope.

Back in Konoha, the sky was filled with clouds and few villagers were walking about. Sai, who had spent the past several days drawing nonstop, sat on a roof to get a good view of his next subject, the skyline. Just before he could pick up his drawing utensil, he heard a rumbling sound coming from above.

"Oh, no, I was hoping it wouldn't rain," he said. To his surprise, the sound did not come from clouds but instead came from a portal that had opened over the other side of the rooftop. First, Naruto fell out of the portal onto his face. Then Shikamaru, Neji, and Rock Lee followed.

Sai was stunned by their sudden arrival, but instead of going to help them up, he decided that they would be his new subjects.

"Crap, some of my bones are definitely broken," Naruto said as his body made a cracking sound, "Yep, no missions for me anytime soon."

"What a drag," Shikamura said, "Lee, you mind moving your feet off of my head?"

"I am sorry, Shikamaru," Rock Lee said, "But I am unable to move right now."

"This must be the effects of interdimensional travel," Neji said. "This is certainly unfortunate."

Sakura and Yumi then fell onto them from above. Hinata soon came through the portal as well.

"I'm so sorry, everyone!" Hinata said.

"What the hell is this, I...can't...move," Yumi said.

"Hey is that...," Naruto began, as he recognized Yumi's voice, "Wait, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Shut up, whiskers!" Yumi said, "I'm staying here from now on, got that?"

"Leave her alone, Naruto," Sakura sighed.

As everyone argued with one another, Sai sketched them in his book. He was fascinated by the display of their emotions and by the strange portal still looming above them. Naruto was able to move his neck enough to notice him drawing away on the other side of the road.

"Hey, Sai, don't just stand there, help us out!" Naruto yelled. Naturally, Sai ignored him and continued drawing.

"I would love to, but I really need you all to stay still until I finish this. It's pretty fascinating."

"Sai," Sakura yelled, "We're not here to be your art subjects, just help us up, you idiot."

"It will only take a minute, I promise, ugly," Sai responded with his typical smile.

"What did you just call me?"

They all continued to argue with each other, until Tenten landed on her feet on top of them. Her eyes were completely covered by the orange Goddess glow due to the guardian still having possession of her body.

"You poor souls. There is no need to trouble yourselves like this," she said. She then removed the negative effects of their interdimensional travel and helped them all to their feet. The guardian was then surprised when Sakura took off after Sai who had jumped from the roof once he saw that she could move again.

"You all are very strange beings" the guardian said as she watched them run off.

"Wait, where is Ino?" Hinata said, "She was just with us."

"Ah, yes, she is the blonde one," the guardian said, "She shall arrive soon, but know that it will take her some time to be as she was before."

Hinata looked worried and Shikamaru frowned. They had many questions, but they would have to fight hard before they received the most important answers.

In the meantime, Tsunade had traveled back to her own office. She sent messengers to call on important Konoha officials to meet with her and to convey the news of the death of Kanoko Nishi to her clan. Tsuande knew many people would be angered by the news and blame her, but she did not care much about that at that time. She poured herself some sake as she waited for the arrival of the official she wanted to speak to the most. After an hour, there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," Tsunade said. Her voice was hoarse and she cleared her throat before the visitor entered.

In came Lady Koharu Utatane of the Konoha Council. Koharu was a pupil of Lord Second and a comrade of the Lord Third. Although she was one of the most experienced kunoichi in the village and had fought in a war as Tsunade did, she and Tsunade disliked one another.

"Hello, Tsunade," Koharu said, "Do you mind explaining to me where you have been and what role you have played in causing the chaos that surrounds us?"

Tsunade gulped down her sake. As usual, she ignored Koharu's questioning.

"Good, you're here," Tsunade said, "I'm glad you didn't bring that old, killjoy Homura. Want a drink?"

Koharu signed. Usually, she would reprimand Tsunade but as Koharu looked at her she could tell the Hokage had recently experienced something traumatic.

"Tsunade, why must you fight all of your battles like this?"

She surprised Tsunade with the unusual compassion in her voice. Tsunade did not respond with her typical biting remark. Instead she poured another drink for herself.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade said as she moved her drinking glass in circular motion and watched as the sake swirled around inside of it.

"You know what I mean, child. Whatever happened to Kanoko-"  
"I didn't tell you anything happened to her."

"You don't have to tell me, I can look at the sky and know that we lost someone powerful. If you look out, you'll see that the rain will soon pour down to mourn her. And I can tell by looking at you that you have begun the mourning process already. You can't lie about something so obvious."

Tsunade's hand began to shake and she put the drinking glass down. She didn't want to cry in front of Koharu, so she tried to maintain an even tone of voice.

"Fine," Tsunade said, "Yes, she's gone. I was going to call a meeting with the other members of the council to announce that later, but I wanted to speak with you individually first. I wanted to request your help."

"Well, what would you like for me to help you with?"

"I need you to teach me all that you know about sealing jutsu," Tsunade continued, "I need to know many techniques, especially since I'm getting rid of the Unknown Fire agreement."

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Koharu exclaimed, "Do you know how much trouble you will cause with the Nishi and their allied clans? That agreement was supposed to keep the Goddess of Fire's power from being completely controlled by one group. If you get rid of it, you will cause an uproar, which will likely lead to a civil war within the village. Even if you mean well, when they get word of Kanoko's death and your attempt to dissolve the agreement you have to know that the Nishi and their allies will blame you and accuse you of killing her to control her power. They're not going to just let you end the agreement, even if you have good intentions."

"That agreement never worked!" Tsunade yelled. She threw the glass to the floor and it shattered.

"Calm yourself, Tsunade,"

"No! I can't be calm, not with all of the lying and the secrets and the disregard you all have shown for my friend's life! We are about to face a threat that very well may rival that of the Akatsuki and we are nowhere close to being prepared for it. There are people out there who possess Kanoko's powers and we may soon face them as enemies. We could have learned from her, she was willing to share her talent and chakra with others so that they could learn techniques that could prevent mass destruction! Her own clan did not have her best interest at heart, if they did, they would not have shunned her for so many years. The Nishi had their chance to protect the Goddess's powers, they could've taught others about it, but instead they kept secrets and burned books so that _they_ could keep that power to themselves. _They _are the ones that need to answer for their selfish ways, so don't patronize me."

"Even if you're right, you must be careful about how you approach this situation."

"I'll do whatever I have to, nothing more, nothing less. I just want to know, will you help me?"

Koharu sighed and shut her eyes for a moment. Tsunade glared at her for several seconds, waiting for a response.

"Who would I be to refuse to help the Hokage," she finally said, "I will teach you what I know about sealing jutsu."

"Thank you, you know I wouldn't ask if it weren't absolutely necessary. I need to get this power under control as soon as possible."

"I see," Koharu said, "So, are you the new host for the Goddess's chakra?"

"Just until I am able to seal it in a different dimension" Tsunade said, "I don't believe it is my power to use, however, I must become more familiar with it since she has passed small portions of Goddess chakra to a few of our kunoichi and has left me with the task of training them."

"So you will be able to continue that training program after all?"

"Yes, but it will be very intense for the girls. According to Kanoko, I need to seal the Goddess chakra in them for a while in order for this training to be effective. That's not what they're going to want to hear, but there appears to be no other option."

"All right, well we can start the sealing lessons soon. If you have nothing else, I must be going now."

Tsunade dismissed Koharu and called on Sakura, Hinata, Yumi and Tenten. When they arrived at her office, she made sure to waste no time telling them what she would have to do.

"Wait, why?" Tenten said, "I'm sorry, my lady, it's just that I don't know how we're supposed to become more powerful if we have less power?"

"It was Lady Kanoko's wish, she knew how to handle that chakra better than anyone. I think we should do as she requested."

"How long will our powers be sealed?" Hinata asked shyly.

"For at least three full moons," Tsunade said.

"What? That's so random. Why three moons?" Sakura said.

"I don't know, it's based on some mythical crap, I think. The bottom line is, we're going to start with the basics, but you will be going on more missions to test out your skills, so be prepared for that."

"Oh, man, my head is spinning," Tenten commented. They all fired off many other questions until they frustrated Tsunade.

"Yeah, I know, it's hard to grasp, but have a little faith in me, okay?" Tsunade said, "Also, you all are going to be a part of a special unit. From here on, you will be known as the Leaf Kunoichi Four."

"But, um, Lady Tsunade, aren't there five of us now?" Hinata asked as she wrung her hands. The Leaf kunoichi all looked at Yumi.

"Yumi is now a part of our village, but I don't know if she would like to be a part of this group as well. Any thoughts on this, Yumi?" Tsunade asked.

Yumi looked at all of their faces before she answered. It was the first time in a while that she had been able to feel truly connected to other people, and she found that both exciting and scary.

"I would love to," Yumi said, "But, I think I need a break from groups for a while. I mean, I just got out of a pretty intense cult. I would be honored to be a part of your group later on, but I think I need some time to get in touch with who I really am first."

Tsunade nodded and accepted Yumi's words.

"By the way, has Ino returned yet?" Sakura asked.

"No, but I sent Kakashi to search for her. Apparently, she was able to form a temporary body for herself which is the one she used during my battle with Yua, but that body is likely pretty damaged right now."

Just then, Tenten's eyes glowed and her expression changed. The guardian began to speak.

"_The blonde one has just been reunited with her original body, but as I had assumed, she will have a long recovery process."_

Tenten's eyes stopped glowing and she was back in control. The others started at her with wide eyes for a moment.

"Yeah, what she said," Tenten scratched her neck and laughed in embarrassment.

"It's going to take some time to get used to _that,_" Sakura mumbled.

"Okay then," Tsunade said, "Anyway, I guess it's time for the next announcement. Before things got out of hand, Kanoko and I agreed that there should be a leader in your group. We made our decision based on earlier assessments of your skills, and what better time to announce it than now. So, the leader of the Leaf Kunoichi Four is..."

The girls tensed up as they waited for Tsunade to say a name. Sakura in particular was itching to know who it would be, and even leaned forward slightly in anticipation. Of all of them, Yumi was the least concerned about the naming of a leader, but was sad about not participating in their group, though she believed it was for her own good.

"The leader is Hinata Hyuga."

"What?" Sakura and Hinata said simultaneously. Tenten put her hand on her chin and nodded.

"Congratulations," Tenten said to Hinata, "I know Neji will be proud."

Hinata could not even manage to say "thank you" in response. She and Sakura were so shocked that they just started at Tsunade with wide eyes.

"Yes, Hinata, congratulations," Tsunade said, "You demonstrated a willingness to challenge yourself during the field training, and the intel you were able to gather with your clan's special jutsu will help us identify some of the other kunoichi who were kidnapped by Katsu so that we can track them down."

"She also was the one who freed Hiroshi from Katsu," Yumi added, "That was no small thing."

"Y-yes, but I-I had help," Hinata said.

"The bottom line is, you are braver than you give yourself credit for and I know you cooperate well with others. Now, this leadership role isn't permanent if you don't want it to be. We'll try it out for now."

After congratulating Hinata again, Tsunade dismissed everyone except Yumi. As she waited for the Hokage to speak to her, Yumi was more nervous than she was when she first met Katsu.

"Since you're staying here, I thought it would be a good idea for us to chat a bit," Tsunade said to her as Tsunade scribbled a note down on a piece of paper.

"Oh, okay..."

"So let me tell you what I know just from looking at you. I can tell you are a bit on the defensive side in general, and that you are far stronger than you look. You also appear to be very observant and kind by nature, despite what you've been through with Katsu. I can also tell that you and I share similar ancestors. You are an Uzumaki, aren't you?"

Yumi gulped and nodded. She hadn't even heard her clan's name in years, and she almost took a step back when Tsunade said it. Tsunade then asked Yumi questions about herself that seemed trivial. Tsunade wanted to know what her favorite color was, her favorite food, and if she had any hobbies. Yumi did not have an answer to most of the questions.

"I'm trying to get a sense of what you like so that we know how to decorate your new apartment," Tsunade said, "But, I can see that you're tired, so let me just ask this other question before I have someone take you to your new home. This Yukina, in your honest opinion, do you believe she is stronger than Katsu?"

Yumi closed her eyes for a moment and pictured Yukina in her all white attire. Yumi could see the featureless mask that never moved from Yukina's face and that image alone caused dread to stir within Yumi.

"Honestly, I don't know much about her," Yumi said in a soft voice, "But Katsu certainly needed her more than she needed him. I know that she is powerful in a way that I cannot put into words, and I sense that she isn't working alone."

Tsunade thanked Yumi for her answers. After a shinobi arrived to escort the young Uzumaki kunoichi to her apartment, Tsunade rubbed her fingers against her temples.

"No amount of sake can help me now," she said to herself.

A few weeks later, most of Konoha appeared to be back to normal. Ino had returned, though she was staying in the hospital to recover and could not join the rest of the Leaf Kunoichi Four for their first few training sessions. Of the four, Tenten had a hardest time accepting that her powers would be sealed. She was very attached to the Goddess chakra that had made her powerful, but the guardian within Tenten assured her that even if that power was weakened, Tenten would still be a capable kunoichi.

"_I do not know why these disturbances have occurred, and I have not been able to contact my sisters or the core consciousness of my Goddess,_ the guardian said to her, "_But I trust that the previous host of the Goddess's power is correct in her judgment. Even without this power, you will not be weak. Your spirit is one of a true fighter. It is a flame that will never die."_

Sakura struggled with getting out of bed in the mornings, and she felt as though she failed her mentor, Lady Tsunade, by joining the enemy. She was also upset about the curse mark that she hid with either a scarf or a turtleneck shirt and she stayed away from other people whenever she could. Naruto and Rock Lee visited her a few times to cheer her up, but most times she told her mother to tell them she was not home.

Hinata spent many days feeling very stressed about her new role and worrying about potentially failing her kunoichi teammates. Kiba and Shino took time to visit her in her home and Kurenai took her to lunch to celebrate her new position. Although Hinata smiled, she was very nervous talking about being a leader, but there was a small part of her that was eager to prove herself. Even when the day came for them to have their Goddess chakra sealed, that small optimism remained in Hinata's heart.

Like the Kunoichi Four, Yumi had a hard time dealing with conflicting emotions. She was happy, afraid, sad, and upset all at once, but fear became more dominant in her when she began having strange dreams.

One night, she dreamt of Yukina who was standing in front of many kunoichi in a dark, dreadful place. Interestingly, Yukina's presence was strong even in the dream. As Yumi looked closer, she could see that the kunoichi were listening to Yukina's words intently. The kunoichi standing closest to Yukina also had a disturbing energy about them. One was a tall young woman with white hair, blue eyes, and two red dots above her brow. Several large bones protruded from her back and formed what looked like two wings.

The kunoichi to her left had soft lavender colored hair and dark green eyes. While that kunoichi's face was beautiful, she revealed a wicked smile when Yukina mentioned killing their enemies. Then someone appeared in that dreadful place that Yumi certainly knew very well. Entering from a portal, came Yoiko whose expression was dull and whose eyes looked lifeless. She carried a kunoichi in her arms who was unconscious. That kunoichi was the sister of the Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand.

"I apologize for the disturbance my lady," Yoiko said in a robotic tone, "But I have found one of the kunoichi you saw in your vision. She seems like a fitting offering to the Goddess."

Observing that scene scared Yumi to her core. She sat up in bed, drenched in sweat trying to catch her breath. She knew that what she had just witnessed was more than a dream and she had to report it to the Hokage first thing in the morning.

Once morning came, Tsunade went to her library. She had sealed the Goddesses chakra that had been within her as she had done with the Leaf Kunoichi Four and wanted to get back to feeling like her usual self. But she couldn't get back to normal just yet. There was one more tough conversation she needed to have.

After recently returning to Konoha from a Goddess related conference with the Mizukage days before, Shizune soon entered the library and listened as the Hokage filled her in on recent events.

"Wow, Lady Tsunade," Shizune said, "You must be exhausted after all of that. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I couldn't rest, not before I spoke to you. There's something I wanted to tell you."

"Oh, what is it?"

Tsunade flipped through a photo album before handing it to Shizune. It was a photo from Shizune's 10th birthday party.

"Right before I defeated Yua, I realized something," Tsunade said, "She was very much like our enemy, Katsu. Pained, angry, and misguided. They were very similar, even when they were linked with other people's consciousness. Even in the _way _they were linked."

"Uh huh," Shizune said. She stared at the photo, but had no idea where Tsunade was going with her statement.

"As it turned out, they were both in a three person consciousness bind. This made me realize why the intel division's interrogation of Kanoko didn't work. The third person who was binded to Kanoko had to be skilled at manipulating consciousness and they were not a Yamanaka nor a Nishi."

"Okay..."  
"Ugh, I didn't want to have to spell it out like this, but...Shizune, aside from those clans, what type of people are most skilled in possession jutsu? The kind of possession jutsu that can kill the host from the inside out. Who has that kind of chakra control?"

Shizune stared down at the photo and then looked at Tsunade. It took a few seconds to sink in for Shizune. When it finally did, Shizune closed the photo album and placed it on a pile of books. Then, to Tsunade's surprise, Shizune started to laugh.

"Wait, wait," Shizune said through her laughter, "You can't be serious, you think someone from the Kato clan possessed Kanoko?"

As Shizune laughed on, Tsunade closed her eyes to keep herself calm.

"No, I _know _someone related to you and Dan did this," Tsunade said, "I know it was Akari Kato."

Shizune's laughter stopped abruptly. Akari was in the photo Tsunade just showed her, but Akari had disappeared many years before when Akari was still a child.

"You're serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious, Shizune? Yes, I really believe your cousin is working with our enemy."  
"Lady Tsunade, with all due respect, there is no way that could be true."

"I know it's hard to hear."

"It's not just hard to hear, it's false," Shizune raised her voice, "I care deeply for you Lady Tsunade, but I know what kind of clan the Kato are. None of us would ever stoop so low. How could you ever think that?"

"Shizune, I-"

"No, please," Shizune said angrily, "That's enough. I have to go now. To say I'm disappointed in you would be an understatement."

Before Tsunade could reach out to comfort her, Shizune turned and swiftly walked out.

If Yumi had arrived before Shizune that morning, Tsunade would know that Akari was the lavender haired kunoichi who had appeared in Yumi's dream. She could have heard it straight from Yumi and confirmed the truth: Akari Kato was the third soul that bound Yua and Kanoko. But Yumi never got a chance to speak to the Hokage that morning at all.

A half hour after Shizune left, Tsunade heard crashing in the distance. The sound of people running and screaming soon followed. Konoha was under attack, but it was not Yukina who was assaulting the village. A jonin ran into the library to convey the news to the Hokage.

"Lady Hokage," he said, "They're here! It's the Akatsuki, there are several of them."

"What?" Tsunade said, "Okay, go round up the others, I'll be right there."

Tsunade sighed. She regretted sealing the Goddess chakra up so soon, but there was no time to unseal it.

The sound of an explosion came from the east side of the village, and Tsunade promptly ran up the stairs to join the shinobi who awaited her instruction.

She would deal with Yukina soon enough, but first, she had to confront Pein.

_To be continued..._

Thank you for reading!

Volume 2 of "The Leaf Kunoichi 4" will begin in the Fall of 2020.


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